PRODUCTION NEWS

‘Hindustan Ki Kasam’ Shooting Complete

The entire shooting of Devgan Films’ Hindustan Ki Kasam is complete following the conclusion of the last 10-day shooting spell in Los Angeles. The background score for the film will be recorded from March 15 at Sunny Super Sounds. Starring Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgan, Manisha Koirala, Sushmita Sen, Prem Chopra, Shakti Kapoor, Gulshan Grover, Farida Jalal, Navin Nischol, Shahbaaz Khan, Pramod Moutho, Kashmira Shah, Johny Lever, Salim, Navin Bawa, Goga Kapoor, Ghanshyam, Brij Gopal, Pinky Chinoy, Noopur, Kader Khan and Mallika, it is produced and directed by Veeru Devgan. Dialogues: Tanveer Khan. Music: Sukhwinder Singh. Lyrics: Anand Bakshi. Cinematography: Ishwar Bidri. Action: Jai Singh. Choreography: Raju Khan. Art: Bijon Dasgupta. Editor: Suresh Chaturvedi. The film is presented by Bharat Shah.

LATEST POSITION

Examinations are affecting collections all over the country.

Lal Baadshah dropped a lot from 4th day onwards. Is very poor in Bombay and Delhi but quite good in U.P.. 1st week Bombay 37,40,310 (57.28%) from 14 cinemas (7 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 7,19,384 from 5 cinemas (1 unrecd.), Adipur 1,08,225 (66.69%), Patan 1,42,084; Pune 7,67,703 from 6 cinemas (1 in matinee); Delhi 26,09,032 (38.95%) from 12 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Kanpur 4,08,782 from 2 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Lucknow 2,73,512, Varanasi 1,98,836, Allahabad (38 shows) 3,11,000, Bareilly 1,76,066, Hardwar 55,000; Rohtak 30,000; Calcutta 32,71,062 from 27 cinemas; Nagpur 4,34,892 from 4 cinemas, Jabalpur 1,58,436, Amravati 1,58,641, Akola 1,51,208, Wardha 70,974, Bilaspur 1,63,073 from 2 cinemas; Indore 3,40,574 from 3 cinemas (3 on F.H.), Bhopal 1,35,470 (1 on F.H.); Jaipur 11,02,552 from 5 cinemas, Bikaner 2,27,650 from 2 cinemas; Hyderabad (gross) 7,24,578 from 3 cinemas (1 in noon), share 21,72,000 (including 14 fixed hire cinemas and Aurangabad).

Laawaris is extremely poor at most of the places. 1st week Bombay 20,45,408 (46.80%) from 10 cinemas (7 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 1,70,014 from 3 cinemas (3 unrecd.); Pune 5,81,468 from 5 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 1,02,240 (1 unrecd.); Delhi 14,92,807 (30.66%) from 9 cinemas; Kanpur 1,00,709, Lucknow 1,60,619, Varanasi 1,24,830, Allahabad (38 shows) 1,35,000, Bareilly 47,328; Calcutta 9,45,452 from 22 cinemas; Nagpur 1,76,473 from 4 cinemas, Jabalpur 75,293, Amravati 1,21,520, Akola 43,404, Gondia (gross) 82,762, Chandrapur 1,21,134; Jaipur 1,19,730; released this week in C.I. and Hyderabad.

Kaun is good only in Bombay and a few other centres. 2nd week Bombay 18,02,931 (81.80%) from 4 cinemas (4 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 2,12,647 from 3 cinemas; Pune 2,42,759, Solapur 63,052 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Delhi 12,53,896 from 5 cinemas; Kanpur 49,456, Lucknow 62,554, Varanasi 41,132, Allahabad 40,100; Calcutta (27 shows) 1,47,322; Nagpur 1,59,125; Indore 28,691, Bhopal 39,282; Hyderabad (gross) 2,54,169; Davangere 87,318, 1st week Bellary (Telugu) 56,218.

Kachche Dhaage will fetch commission in some circuits and overflow in some. 3rd week Bombay 14,61,084 (55.95%) from 7 cinemas (6 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 3,05,473 from 4 cinemas (1 unrecd.), 1st week Kadi 1,08,518, 3rd week Jamnagar 46,775; Pune 4,88,895 from 5 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 74,818, 1st Barsi 50,711; 2nd week Bijapur 80,000; 3rd Delhi 17,55,021 from 7 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 1,79,000 (1 unrecd.), Lucknow 3,08,427, Varanasi 1,60,727, Allahabad 1,37,380, Bareilly (6 days) 1,03,417, Hardwar 31,552; Rohtak 18,129; Calcutta 4,89,130 from 6 cinemas; Nagpur 1,69,589 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur 1,70,461, Amravati (6 days) 75,499, Akola 62,970, total 3,73,934, share 2,66,320, Dhule 57,250, Durg (6 days) 47,363, 1st week Bilaspur 64,277; 3rd week Bhopal (6 days) 79,645; Jaipur 4,73,312, Bikaner (gross) 94,626; Hyderabad (gross) 3,05,585; Mangalore 93,649, 1st week Shimoga 87,842.

Daag The Fire 4th week Bombay 3,18,793 (35.24%) from 3 cinemas (2 on F.H.); 1st week Padra 1,31,229; 4th Pune 1,27,790 from 2 cinemas, Solapur 48,830, 1st week Barsi 37,622; 4th week Delhi 90,880 (2 on F.H.); Kanpur 2,29,484 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 2,64,285, Varanasi 1,48,246, Allahabad 96,000, Bareilly 72,938, Hardwar 37,000; Calcutta 1,18,518; Nagpur 64,423 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur 62,055, total 4,54,363, Amravati 93,680, Akola 75,431, total 4,74,522, share 3,50,583; Indore 80,000, Bhopal 68,484; Jaipur 1,48,831, Bikaner 35,853; Hyderabad (gross) 2,84,542 from 2 cinemas.

Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain 7th week Bombay 16,35,348 (49.95%) from 8 cinemas (3 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 2,44,729 from 2 cinemas (1 unrecd.), Baroda 80,611; Pune 3,84,027 from 3 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur (14 shows) 96,090; Delhi 2,16,389 from 2 cinemas; Kanpur 1,42,348 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 1,84,217, Varanasi 1,02,101, Allahabad 40,100, Bareilly 18,827; Calcutta 1,47,322; Nagpur 1,10,161 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur 36,900, total 5,97,719, Amravati 73,275, Akola 34,050, total 6,25,200, Dhule 32,325, total 4,77,021; Hyderabad (gross) 2,54,382.

‘MOTHER 98’ TAX-FREE IN U.P.

Producer-director Saawan Kumar’s Mother 98 has been granted exemption from payment of entertainment tax by the Uttar Pradesh government. The film has already been granted a similar exemption in Delhi.

‘GODMOTHER’ RELEASE PERMITTED

Santokben Jadeja, on whose life story Godmother is alleged to be based, has appealed to the Gujarat high court against an order passed by the Rajkot city civil judge, allowing the release of Gramco Films’ Godmother, with cuts in two scenes. Santokben Jadeja, a former MLA of Gujarat assembly and a self-styled lady don of Saurashtra, had earlier moved the city civil court with a petition, seeking a stay on the release of the film which, according to her, was based on her real-life story. She had stated in her petition that the character based on her (played by Shabana Azmi in the film) is shown smoking and consuming alcohol, which would damage her reputation beyond repair within her community. Gramco’s advocates counter-argued that the similarity, if any, between their film’s character and Santokben Jadeja was only coincidental. Upon hearing the arguments for both the parties, the city civil court judge viewed the film on 10th March. Subsequently, he passed an order allowing the release of Godmother, provided the producer suitably changed two scenes depicting Shabana’s character consuming alcohol and smoking.

STANLEY KUBRICK DEAD

Hollywood director Stanley Kubrick, well-known for his 2001: A Space Odyssey and Dr. Strangelove, died in London on 7th March. He was 70 and leaves behind his wife and three daughters.

Paying tributes to him, Warner Bros. chairman and co-chief executive officers Robert A. Daly and Terry Semel said, “We are deeply saddened by the loss of Stanley Kubrick, a towering figure in the world of films and a deeply loved and respected member of the Warner family for nearly three decades. Stanley’s unique vision and protean abilities as filmmaker have fascinated and inspired audiences and colleagues for almost half a century….. We are fortunate to have screened the just completed Eyes Wide Shut, Stanley’s final picture, last week.”

‘TVS SA RE GA MA’ SET COLLAPSES, 30 INJURED

Nearly 30 persons were trapped when a makeshift set of the popular TV programme, TVS Sa Re Ga Ma (Zee TV), collapsed at the Taj Mahal in Agra on 11th March. The incident, which occurred at about 10 p.m., resulted in injuries to a number of fans who were present on the set. None of the cast was present on the set when it collapsed.

AUDIO PIRATE NABBED

The MIDC, Andheri (Bombay) police raided the premises of one Ashok Kumar Baijnath Rai and seized over 7,000 fake audio cassettes (including over 2,000 duplicate cassettes of T-Series) and other materials and duplicating equipments, totally valued at more than Rs. 3,40,000 on 11th March.

JATIN, LALIT ARRESTED

Music directors Jatin and Lalit, accused of assaulting the lobby manager of Hotel Centaur, Juhu, Bombay, in 1989, were on March 9, 1999 remanded to judicial custody till March 23, by metropolitan magistrate of Bandra (Bombay) court, B.A. Shelar. They were sent to Arthur Road jail. While Jatin was arrested on 9th March, Lalit surrendered before the court on 10th. Both were declared absconding by the court last month after they failed to attend hearings.

On August 13, 1989, the Santa Cruz police had registered a case against four persons — Jatin, Lalit, Vinod Bhat and Salma Bihari — for assaulting Kishore Naik, the lobby manager of Centaur Hotel. All the four were arrested and released on bail the next day. The police later filed the chargesheet and the court framed charges against the accused on December 23, 1993. As the accused failed to attend most of the hearings in the case, and a non-bailable warrant, issued in November ’98, could not be executed as the accused had shifted their residences, the court declared the accused as absconding. Bhat and Bihari are yet to be traced.

‘JAIHIND’ TAX-FREE IN MAHARASHTRA, U.P., GUJARAT

Manoj Kumar’s Jaihind has been granted entertainment tax exemption for a year in Maharashtra. It has also been granted tax exemption for two months in Uttar Pradesh and for six months in Gujarat.

UNI TENDERS APOLOGY TO MUKESH KHANNA IN DELHI HC

As in his popular TV serial, SHAKTIMAAN, Mukesh Khanna proved the hero in real life too when one of the premier news agencies of the country, United News of India (UNI), tendered an apology to the actor-producer in court. Mukesh Khanna had filed a defamation suit against UNI for flashing false news about children immolating themselves after seeing his serial, in the hope that the serial hero, Shaktimaan, would come to their rescue. He had also filed a suit against Doordarshan which decided to take his serial off air (intimated vide DD’s letter dated 24-2-’99) despite a contract for 104 episodes. According to Mukesh Khanna, DD’s action to take his serial off air was based on the news items flashed by UNI.

The counsel for UNI, in a hearing of DD and defamation suits in Delhi high court in the courtroom of Justice M.K. Sharma on 11th March, admitted that the news reports about SHAKTIMAAN having inspired children to have set themselves afire, flashed by it (UNI), were incorrect and a bonafide mistake on its part for which UNI was tendering an apology and expressing regret.

In view of the admission of inaccurate reporting by UNI and in view of its apology for the same, which were recorded by the Delhi high court in suit no. 484/1999, additional solicitor general C.S. Vaidyanathan, appearing for Doordarshan, told the court that DD would reconsider its decision to take SHAKTIMAAN off air and, therefore, sought a short adjournment.

The matter will now come up for further hearing on 17th March.

Arun Jaitley, with Rajat Sethi, appeared for Mukesh Khanna. T.L. Garg appeared for UNI.

JAWAHARLAL BAFNA MISSING

Producer Jawaharlal Bafna, whose Aaag Hi Aag has been released this week, left his office on Friday (12th March) morning and is since untraceable. His family filed a complaint with the Oshiwara police station but his whereabouts was not known till late Friday night.

Bafna’s son, Deven, told Information on Friday night at 12.15, “Daddy was feeling very low and dejected since the last 2-3 days. He was unhappy with the behaviour of some of his distributors who took deliveries at reduced prices, saying that he (Jawaharlal Bafna) was in plus, when the fact is that my daddy was in heavy deficit even after all the deliveries were effected.” The C.P. Berar distributor did not take delivery.

Jawaharlal Bafna, instead of returning home, slept in his office on the night of 11th March (Thursday) after effecting all the deliveries. His Delhi-U.P. distributor was also with him that night. On Friday, he left his office without informing anybody. A hand-written note, found in his drawer, mentioned that he had been honest in his dealings but honesty and sincerity did not pay in life. The note also said that he was not fit for this world, that he was leaving his place and that nobody should try to search for him. A line was also mentioned for Mithun Chakraborty to the effect that he should not loot people. Mithun had allegedly agreed to work in Aaag Hi Aag at a price lower than his market price because Bafna had suffered losses in his earlier film, Dadagiri, which also starred Mithun. But, according to Deven Bafna, “Mithun refused to complete his dubbing unless he was paid more money although the contracted amount had already been paid to him.”

CCCA FOUNDER-PRESIDENT H.N.S. RAO DEAD

Industry Loses Honest, Sincere Leader

C.P.C.I. Trade Mourns Subbarao’s Death

C.P. Berar distributor and founder-president of the Central Circuit Cine Association, H.N. Subba Rao, breathed his last at 7.30 p.m. on 9th March at his Bhusawal residence after a brief illness. He was 89. The news of his demise spread like wild fire in the C.P.C.I. Rajasthan trade. The Amravati and Indore trades held condolence meetings on 10th. All the business establishments and the offices of CCCA at Bhusawal, Indore, Amravati and Jaipur remained closed on 10th in his honour.

Born on 25th August, 1910 in Mysore, H.N.S. Rao’s first brush with the film industry was when he joined Baburao Pai’s Famous Pictures in Bombay after matriculating and completing a course in typewriting and shorthand in 1927. Although he joined as a stenographer, his quest for learning saw him working in all the departments. He was deputed to the concern’s Delhi office for a few months and in 1932, he was elevated to the post of branch manager of the Calcutta office. He was called to Bombay again and asked to set up a new distribution office, Kolhapur Talkie Distributors. He also briefly looked after the production work when Famous Pictures branched out into film production. But since distribution was where Subbarao’s (as he was called) heart was, he was shifted back to film distribution where he continued till 1937.

On 1st January, 1938, Famous Pictures opened its Bhusawal office, and Subbarao shifted base there. He later became a partner in the concern and when the other partners retired, he took over the firm. His honesty and sincerity, which he was known for when he was employed at Famous Pictures, continued to be his greatest assets till he breathed his last. The tradition of sincerity and honesty is being carried on in the same vein by his sons, H.S. Pandurang Rao and Anant Rao.

H.N.S. Rao distributed over 200 films, many of which were jubilee hits. He was the regular distributor of films produced by Mehboob Khan, Raj Kapoor, K. Asif, Prabhat Film Company, O.P. Ralhan and Atmaram.

H.N.S. Rao was the founder-member of the first executive committee of the CCCA and was also the member of the committee which drafted the constitution of the FFI. In the CCCA, his opinions at annual general meetings and otherwise were always greatly valued. For his valuable contribution to the film trade of C.P.C.I. Rajasthan, in particular, he was honoured at the hands of then president of India, P. Venkataraman, on the eve of the 75th anniversary of the film industry, in Madras.

He also founded a number of educational, social, cultural and charitable organisations including the society which runs an arts, science and commerce college in Bhusawal. The computer lab, which was funded by him, at the college is named after him.

The cine trade of Indore and the staff of the administrative office of the CCCA in Indore on 10th March condoled the death of H.N.S. Rao, at Film Bhawan. The condolence meeting was chaired by the honorary treasurer of the CCCA, Ramesh Sureka, who, paying tributes to the departed soul, said that the sad demise had caused an irreparable loss to the CCCA and the film fraternity. G.S. Gupta referred to him as the Gandhi of the CCCA. Joharilal Jhanjharia recalled his association with H.N.S. Rao since the time the CCCA was founded and his heroic efforts for the growth of the film industry that had made him a living legend. M.L. Jain recounted that Subbarao was a man of principles and a no-nonsense leader. Govind Acharya gratefully acknowledged that he had learnt a lot from H.N.S. Rao. Uttam Nahar and Jitendra Jain appreciated the late leader’s humane qualities, open-mindedness and zest for the betterment of the film fraternity. J.P. Chowksey also paid glowing tributes to Subbarao.

The meeting adopted the condolence resolution moved by Ramesh Sureka, a copy of which was later sent to the bereaved family. The meeting ended after a 2-minute silence was observed. All the film offices of Indore as well as Film Bhawan remained closed on 10th.

A meeting of the Amravati cine trade was held on 10th under the chairmanship of CCCA vice president Vijay Rathi to pay homage to H.N.S. Rao. Glowing tributes were paid to the visionary and leader. His death was mourned and it was mentioned that the industry had lost a sincere and devoted worker. Two minutes’ silence was observed. A copy of the condolence resolution passed at the meeting was sent to H.S.P. Rao.

RAM UDAR JHA NO MORE

Bihar distributor and exhibitor Ram Udar Jha expired at Muzaffarpur on 4th March. He was 70 years old. He had also produced Hindi and Bhojpuri films.

Jha owned Jawahar Picture Palace, Muzaffarpur. A condolence meeting to mourn his demise will be held at Muzaffarpur on 15th March.

ANNOUNCEMENT & LAUNCHING

Bobby Deol, Ranee In Guddu Dhanoa’s ‘Bichhoo’

Guddu Dhanoa’s Bichhoo, being presented by Narinder Dhanoa and starring Bobby Deol, Ranee Mukerji and Raj Babbar, was launched on March 10 with a song recording at Sunny Super Sounds. The song, penned by Sameer and tuned by Anand Raaj Anand, was rendered by Jaspinder Narula and Harry Anand. Being made under the banner of Bhagwan Chitra Mandir, it will go before the camera next month with regular schedules every month. The film’s executive producer is Veena Sood.

YOU ASKED IT

Does Karisma Kapoor play a double role in Silsila Hai Pyar Ka?

– No, she doesn’t, although the promotional trailer of the film, on air on satellite channels, gives that impression.

What has happened to the unofficial ban on the release of dubbed Hollywood films in Bombay?

– The ‘ban’ continues. There’s been no settlement of the issue as yet. The foreign companies and the IMPDA, TOA, CEAI etc. have not yet met after the initial joint meeting.

Which heroine will Kajol’s marriage benefit the most?

– Karisma Kapoor, of course! Although Kajol will continue acting, she will definitely do fewer films.

MIX MASALA

CAR THEFTS

Anupam Kher’s car was stolen earlier this week, together with his cell-phone while he went to pray at a Hanuman temple at Tardeo, Bombay. The temple used to be frequented by Kher during his struggling days. Perhaps, this was God’s way of telling him that, may be, he doesn’t visit Him as often as he used to!

Incidentally, producer-secretary Rakesh Nath’s (Rikku’s) Tata Safari was also stolen from Andheri (D.N. Nagar) some days ago.

A SLANGING MATCH

Close on the heels of the news about the cricket match between Bombay distributors and exhibitors to be held today (13th March) comes another news that the match has now been cancelled. Producer Vashu Bhagnani was to present Biwi No. 1 trophies to the best batsman, best bowler, best fielder and the best team. He was to also display banners of Biwi No. 1 at the ground. This, it appears, became the bone of contention for a few distributors who raised a hue and cry over it. Their argument was that if everyone was required to pay Rs. 500 for participating in the match, why should the organisers single out Vashu for preferential treatment? The organisers, who have since dropped the idea of holding the match, argue that the sum of Rs. 500 was being charged only to keep the free-loaders out from the dinner and the cocktails after the match. The actual bill was to be footed by Vashu and once the match was over, the sum was to have been refunded to every participant, they conclude. It is difficult to ascertain what is true and in such a scenario, as always, a great deal of bickering, bitching and backbiting is being indulged in by both sides. Shall we call it Bitching No. 1, Bickering No. 1 and Backbiting No. 1?

DO YOU KNOW?

* At Ashok cinema, Patna, it was double celebration time. SOLDIER celebrated 100 days at the cinema in regular shows and FIRE celebrated 100 days in morning shows.

* Ashok cinema, Patna, completed its golden jubilee on 3rd March, 1999. The cinema was opened on 3rd March, 1949 by the first Indian governor of Bihar, M.S. Anney. He had then described the cinema as the best of Bihar. Since then, the cinema has been known as the pride of the capital (city).

* Music director and lyricist Anand Raaj Anand’s brother, Harry, made his debut in playback singing on 10th March. Harry Anand lent his voice to a song of Guddu Dhanoa’s BICHHOO alongwith Jaspinder Narula.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

A News, Out Of Sur, Out Of Taal

The film industry woke up with a jolt last Sunday (7th March). Two persons (a male and a female), identifying themselves as Mukta Arts’ employees, phoned nearly 25 people from the industry, between 4 and 4.30 a.m. and informed them that Subhash Ghai had expired a couple of hours before. While some were told that he expired due to a heart attack at 2.30 a.m., others were informed that he was murdered. Obviously, the news spread like wild fire throughout the industry and within the next few hours, Ghai’s residence (it was a Sunday) was inundated with phone calls to verify the news because many of them believed the calls to be a hoax. Of course, Ghai himself answered many of the telephone calls. In fact, after attending the calls, he rushed straight to the shooting of his forthcoming Taal. Evidently, some miscreants had played a prank by spreading rumours of Subhash Ghai’s death. It was only by late afternoon that day that all in the industry learnt of the falsity of the news, and his mobile phone and the phones at Subhash Ghai’s residence stopped ringing.

While Subhash Ghai must have been greatly inconvenienced by the whole incident, he may, perhaps, take solace in the Hindu belief that several years are added to the life-span of a person in the event of rumours being spread about his death.

‘Biwi No. 1’ Right In Midst Of Cricket Fever

The period between 14th May and 20th June this year is taboo as far as new releases are concerned. With the World Cup cricket matches scheduled to be held at that time, producers and distributors are wary of releasing any big film in opposition. But Vashu Bhagnani is doing exactly what the rest of the trade may term as committing harakiri. He is moving full steam ahead to release his Biwi No. 1 on 28th May. And he has a strong logic for his plans. Says he, “By 28th May, the public will have had a good dose of cricket and will be yearning for a change. Since no major film is scheduled for release in that period, Biwi No. 1 will get the benefit of this desire for a change.” God willing!

Akshay And Action

The new promotional trailers of International Khiladi seem to have done the trick. Full of action and breathtaking stunts, the trailers have excited the exhibitors of U.P. in a big way. For, they are paying fancy terms to the film’s distributor. After all, like the audience, even the exhibitors are waiting to see Akshay Kumar in what he is best — action and stunts!

Heroine Changed

Karisma Kapoor has been replaced by Preity Zinta in Sajid Nadiadwala’s Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega. Although grapevine has it that the reason for Karisma walking out of the film was her fallout with choreographer Farah Khan (who will choreograph the songs of Sajid’s film), producer Sajid insists, it is purely due to date problems. That Karisma hurt her foot recently is common knowledge. Because of the foot injury, the talented actress could not shoot for several days, which resulted in postponements of her shootings. This, according to Sajid, was affecting his film’s shooting schedules from April onwards and he, therefore, opted for Preity. Coming back to Karisma and Farah Khan, the two were reportedly involved in an unpleasant encounter of the sad kind at a recent party. Propounders of the Karisma-Farah enmity theory as being the cause for the walkout by Karisma from Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega reveal that the actress made it clear to Sajid that she would not work with Farah Khan. The producer, they say, refused to replace Farah. Of course, Sajid refutes the entire story and maintains that the change in heroine was necessitated only because of date problems. Anyway, the film now stars Salman Khan, Ranee Mukerji and Preity Zinta.

Manoj Kumar’s Success Story: How It Began

The incident mentioned below was conveyed to us by Manoj Kumar earlier this week when the topic of discussion was Akshaye Khanna and his films. Like many in the industry, Manoj Kumar too felt that it was very sad that the films of a talented boy like Akshaye were flopping one after another. Expressing sympathy thus, Manoj Kumar related an incident of the time when he had joined the industry as an artiste. He too had a line of flops — six, to be precise, one after the other. Like Manoj Kumar today is feeling sad for Akshaye, (late) Om Prakash at that time felt sorry for Manoj. In one meeting with Manoj Kumar, the veteran actor told him, “You are so good-looking and you also act well, it’s a pity that your films are not doing well.” Saying this, Om Prakash advised Manoj to visit Haji Malang, a pilgrim place near Bombay. Manoj Kumar heeded Om Prakash’s advice and went to pray at Haji Malang. He recalled the long uphill walk to the dargah where he prayed for success. When he was climbing downhill, he heard a voice from behind him, which said, “Jaa, ikattees tareekh ko milenge.” He turned around and saw and old man dressed in clean white clothes and with a flowing white beard. Although he was standing where many beggars were stationed, Manoj Kumar recalled that he didn’t look like a fakir. When the unsuccessful actor asked him what he meant to say, the man in white replied, “You will taste success from 31st.” The premiere of Manoj Kumar starrer Hariyali Aur Raasta was held on 31st of that month and, sure enough, Manoj had the first taste of success with that film and how! Hariyali Aur Raasta proved a silver jubilee hit and from there began the success story of Manoj Kumar. The successful actor went to Haji Malang on many occasions after that “but,” he says ruefully, “I never saw that man in white ever again.”

Maybe, Akshaye can take a leaf out of this and visit Haji Malang.

Jai State Governments

At a time when entertainment tax is being considered one of the biggest evils in the industry, it comes as a perfect gift for Manoj Kumar that not one or two but a total of seven state governments have exempted his Jaihind from entertainment tax. The Maharashtra government has been the last to grant the film exemption but it has given the relief for one full year. The other states in which the patriotic film is tax-free are Gujarat, Delhi, U.P., M.P., Rajasthan and Haryana. This now should really excite the distributors. For, few films create such history even before they are released, right?!

‘Khiladi’ Ek, Films Anek

It is well-known by now that Akshay Kumar is the reigning hero as far as Khiladi films are concerned. He has already starred in Khiladi, Main Khiladi Tu Anari, Sabse Bada Khiladi, Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi and Mr. & Mrs. Khiladi while his International Khiladi is due for release on 26th March. What is, perhaps, less known is the fact that the word ‘Khiladi’ has been quite popular with producers for years now — much before Akshay came on the scene. The first of the ‘Khiladi’ films was Khiladi itself, made way back in 1945. Later, four more films were made with the same title, one each in 1950, 1961, 1968 and, of course, the Akshay-starrer in 1992! Then, there was Ek Khilari Bawan Pattey made in 1972, Do Khiladi (1976), Khel Khilari Ka (1977), Shatranj Ke Khiladi (1977), Paanch Khiladi (1986) and Khatron Ke Khiladi (1988). Moreover, the Hindi dubbed versions of four films were also titled Khel Khiladi Ka, Khiladi No. 1, Kanoon Ka Khiladi and Ek Anari Do Khiladi. All in all, a whopping 20 films have the word Khiladi in their titles. So, shall we say, “Well ‘play’ed, Khiladi!”?

Filmi Threats

A producer-director of ‘B’ grade film reportedly threatened the CBFC officials recently that he would have their whole office burned down if his film was not passed without cuts! The film in question was actualy made in the ’80s. Now, nearly a decade-and-a-half later, the man has applied for a certificate for the same film which includes all the portions originally ordered by the censors to be cut. Obviously, this producer-director thought that he could terrify the examining committee and also the censor chairperson. But, of course, nobody took him seriously and chose to simply dub the threats as part of his madness.

Naam — The Title

The fad of adding English words to Hindi film titles is catching on fast these days. Daag The Fire has already been released and Manoj Kumar’s Jaihind The Pride has been retitled just Jaihind. Even then, several under-production films have English words attached to their titles. Take a look at the following: Woh – The Killers, Khooni Ilaaka – The Prohibited Area, Kaaran – The Reason, Jadh – The Root Cause, Tabaahi – The Destroyer, Dal – The Gang and Tapish – The Burning Desire. Now, what do you say to this Paagalpan – The Madness?!?

Dream Merchant

Buraa Na Mano, Holi NAHIN Hai!

I received a call from BBC, London earlier this week. The caller asked me if I could speak about Bollywood’s Holi bashes this year, on their programme the next evening. I told them, there hadn’t been any major Holi celebration parties this year but having said so, I dreamt about Holi in Bollywood. I dreamt that….

….Aamir Khan had all the plans to have a Holi party. He had even booked Rajkamal Studio for it and was making sure, the studio floor would accommodate the invitees. He had taken details of the floor size and painstakingly calculated how many people it could comfortably hold. Since several of the invitees would be under the influence of bhaang or some alcoholic drink, he was making an allowance for more body space. He had asked his office staff to give him the exact details of how many among the invitees were fond of drinking, what they preferred to drink, whether they would come single or with their spouses etc. etc. The calculations and statistics were taking so long to compile that the earliest that perfectionist Aamir’s Holi bash could take place would be sometime around Diwali. And so the plan was abandoned.

Govinda almost had a Holi party. Except that his invitations reached exactly the way he reaches on producers’ sets — late! Everyone I contacted lamented, they received Govinda’s invitation for the 9 o’clock shift — sorry, party — at 2 p.m. on the Holi day.

Rajkumar Santoshi had decided on a unique Holi bash — only for senior citizens. The invitations had been sent to actors, actresses and technicians in the industry, who are more than 70 years of age. Insiders revealed, young Dev Anand refused to accept the invitation. Insiders also revealed, Urmila Matondkar was the only non-senior citizen lucky to have been invited for the Holi party and the Rangeeli heroine had agreed to make a brief 5-minute appearance. But this Holi party was cancelled at the eleventh hour as Santoshi was not santosh with his own concept of ‘senior citizens Holi’. In keeping with his spirit of re-shooting, he told his staff to re-arrange a new Holi bash, so what if it was delayed — this was in keeping with the delayed status of his films. I am told that the Holi bash, which ultimately never took place, was to have been presented by Bharat Shah, whatever that meant.

Akshaye Khanna said, he had no reason to celebrate any festival, Holi or Diwali. And anyway, after the debacle of Doli Saja Ke Rakhna, the young actor is allergic to anything that even rhymes with ‘Doli’. “Please yaar, Holi se bachaa ke rakhna,” he pleaded.

Shah Rukh Khan, on the other hand, sent out invitations for a Holi gathering on — hold your breath! — top of a train. The invitees would be required to smear colours on each other’s faces while they danced atop a moving train. Shah Rukh had even booked the Rajdhani Express for the express purpose of the Holi get-together. But, but…. man proposes and Indian Railways disposes! The party got cancelled because the Rajdhani Express of 2nd March arrived in Bombay from Delhi in the evening instead of morning, as was scheduled.

Manoj Kumar decided to have Holi celebrations at his bungalow but said, he would restrict the colours to be used to just three — saffron, white and green. Even as everybody was appreciating the patriotic flavour of his Holi party, Manoj Kumar had to issue a cancellation notice because he had to rush to Gujarat with a print of his Jaihind for its tax exemption!

Aishwarya Rai declined to play Holi with colours. Instead, she said, she would burn Holika by consigning every piece of wood in her house to the flames. At least then, she thought, critics would stop calling her wooden. Touch wood!

Saif Ali Khan almost coaxed Salman Khan into hosting a Holi get-together. But the super-successful Khan told Saif, “Holi ko maar goli, chal shikaar khelte hain.” Saif hung up the telephone like a frightened kid and never stepped out of his house — neither to play Holi nor to shoot goli!

Mithun Chakraborty issued invitation cards for his Holi party. But since he insisted, everyone come to Ooty, nobody obliged. Well, almost nobody. T.L.V. Prasad and Jackie Shroff did go to Ooty but were disappointed to see Mithun playing Holi in four shifts. They soon shifted base to Bombay again, with a red face — not reddened by gulaal but due to embarrassment for having flown to Ooty and returned without playing with colours.

Vikram Bhatt scoffed at the very idea of playing Holi. I learnt later that the poor guy, fed on Hollywood films, simply didn’t know what Holi was and what it signified. When Aamir explained to him on telephone that one burns wood a day before Holi, Vikram couldn’t believe his ears. “Burn wood on Holi? You mean Holiwood in Bollywood?” Aamir disconnected the line.

Sridevi didn’t play Holi simply because she didn’t know that 2nd March was Holi day. She confessed to Rajkumar Santoshi’s wife the following day, “Aie aie yo, Boney-ji told me on 1st that it was Holi day on 2nd, but I thought, he meant to say that he won’t go to office. So I made plans to go on a picnic with him to a crowded place like Juhu Beach to feel like a commoner. After all, what do you do on a holiday?”

– Komal Nahta

LAL BAADSHAH

BMB Productions’ Lal Baadshah (A) is the story of a do-gooder who is a virtual one-man army. Inhabitants of a small town are terrified by the local don who is abetted in his criminal activities by his brother (a corrupt police officer) and father. But Lal Baadshah comes to their rescue time and again and vows to finish the don and his family. In their various confrontations, Lal Baadshah keeps scoring over the villains till finally, one day, he comes in their clutches. It is then revealed to the audience that the don’s father had an axe to grind with Lal Baadshah’s father who is presumed dead but is actually alive. The father and son ultimately join forces to eliminate the family of villains.

The story is as routine as routine can be but there is a good dose of action to keep the masses happy. The script is loose and shabbily written. For instance: the don’s activities are never shown and he is established as a don only through dialogues; the don’s father becomes the sworn enemy of Lal Baadshah’s father because he wants to lay his hands on the king’s treasure, but nothing is spoken of the treasure or its whereabouts thereafter! The romantic portion is weak and emotions are fair. Dialogues sound good at many places because of Amitabh Bachchan’s style of speaking. The second half is routine and tends to bore.

Amitabh Bachchan does a reasonably good job as Lal Baadshah. His romantic encounters with the heroine look funny because of the age difference between him and her. His Bhojpuri dialect will go down well with the audience in U.P. and Bihar mainly. In the role of the old father, he is average. The father’s wig looks funny. Manisha Koirala is ordinary and spoils the couple of comedy scenes she has, because of her mechanical performance. Her role is small and she remains out of the scene for long intervals. Shilpa Shetty is okay. Amrish Puri is effective. Raghuvaran makes an average don. Mukesh Rishi, as his brother, is fairly good. Nirupa Roy is so-so. Radhika does well in a brief role. Shakti Kapoor lends comic relief and should have had a better role. Prem Chopra gets very limited scope. Pramod Moutho and Mahesh Anand fill the bill. Naghma has been wasted in a song-dance.

Direction is aimed at satisfying the masses. Of the songs, ‘Dhanno ki aankh’ is very good. A couple of other songs are okay but the ‘Mera munna’ number is dull. Camerawork is quite appealing. Action scenes are well composed. Production values are alright.

On the whole, Lal Baadshah has an impressive initial value and masala for ‘B’ and ‘C’ class centres but does not have the power to sustain and go for a long run. An average fare, it will do well in U.P., Bihar and Rajasthan because of the Bhojpuri dialect of the hero and the action.

Released on 5-3-’99 at Dreamland, New Excelsior and 19 other cinemas of Bombay thru V.I.P. Enterprises. Publicity: very good. Opening: below the mark. …….Also released all over. Opening was mindblowing in U.P. (released on 2nd March), West Bengal, Bihar, C.P. Berar, C.I. and Rajasthan (1st day Jaipur: an astounding 2,74,000/- from 5 cinemas!).

LAAWARIS

Lama Productions’ Laawaris (UA) is a masala film with a routine story. It is about an orphan picked up by a don and groomed to become a law-breaker. He terrorises people of the basti in which he lives and tries the same with a lawyer and his wife who shift into the basti with their little kid. Although the lawyer’s practice isn’t going great guns, he is a man of principles and refuses to surrender to the arm-twisting tactics of the orphan boy and his gang. He even has altercations and fights with the boy. Gradually, the orphan begins to like the lawyer and his family. He also falls in love with a girl who happens to be the lawyer’s assistant and also the niece of the corrupt police commissioner. While the lawyer’s wife helps the orphan come closer to his beloved, the lawyer himself can’t forgive the orphan and becomes instrumental in breaking the relationship between him and his beloved. Soon thereafter, the orphan’s girlfriend, in frustration, agrees to get married to the don’s good-for-nothing son. But the orphan tries to win her back and by this time, he even has the lawyer on his side. The climax involves getting the two lovers together while eliminating the don and his huge gang. It abounds in action.

The story is very run-of-the-mill but the only redeeming factor is that writer Honey Irani’s characterisations are likeable as well as believable. However, the screenplay is replete with oft-repeated situations which are, therefore, predictable at every stage. Kamlesh Pandey’s dialogues are excellent at quite a few places. But all said and done, the audience’s thirst for novelty remains totally unquenched.

Akshaye Khanna acts freely and is endearing in light scenes. But he could have done better in dramatic scenes. Manisha Koirala looks disinterested in her work and delivers her dialogues as if she were a super-fast train! Jackie Shroff gives a restrained performance as the principled lawyer. He looks too fat, though. Dimple Kapadia comes up with an absolutely brilliant show and is as natural as natural can be. Govind Namdeo does an able job. Pramod Moutho is fair. Anita Kanwal, as his wife, shines. The scene in which she threatens to kill Pramod Moutho is clapworthy but it should have had more dialogues. Raza Murad, Parmeet Sethi, Johny Lever (not very hilarious) and Dinesh Hingoo lend good support. Rajesh Joshi, Jeetu Arora, Sanjeeva, Yogee, Milind Inamdar, Ankush Mohit and the rest are adequate.

Shrikant Sharma’s direction is fairly good but he has not been able to give anything new to the audience, nor has he made the drama exciting. Even the romantic portion is dull. Music (Rajesh Roshan) is very good. But the absence of a hit number is sorely felt. ‘Aa kahin door’ and ‘Maine kya kaha’ are well-tuned songs. Action scenes (Raam Shetty) are wonderfully composed. Camerawork is alright. Editing should have been much more smooth. Production and other technical values are of standard.

On the whole, Laawaris is a dull fare because it has no novelty and no excitement in the drama. Since it has opened to poor houses (almost all over India), it will entail heavy losses to its distributors in spite of having abundant action in the second half.

Released on 5-3-’99 at Alankar, Metro (matinee) and 15 other cinemas of Bombay thru B.R.A. Corporation. Publicity: excellent. Opening: average. …….Also released all over. Opening was pretty weak almost everywhere.

LATEST POSITION

The Holi holiday on 2nd March proved bountiful for the box-office. The examination period, however, has begun to adversely affect collections at the ticket-windows.

Kaun has been totally rejected everywhere except in Bombay and some parts of Maharashtra only. 1st week Bombay 27,59,654 (82.08%) from 6 cinemas (4 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 6,10,470 from 6 cinemas, Rajkot (matinee) 14,550, Jamnagar 44,415 (1 in matinee unrecd.); Solapur 1,25,828 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Delhi 19,14,999 (52.62%) from 5 cinemas; Kanpur 1,08,802, Lucknow 1,17,639, Varanasi 70,125; Calcutta 3,91,931 from 3 cinemas (discontinued from a few cinemas after 3-4 days due to dismal attendance); Nagpur 2,43,268, Amravati 97,994; Indore 1,44,835 (3 on F.H.), Bhopal 1,13,368 from 2 cinemas; Jaipur 1,61,198 from 1 cinema (discontinued from 2nd cinema after 2 days due to extremely poor collections); Hyderabad (gross) 6,33,686 from 4 cinemas (1 in Hindi and 3 in Telugu); Davangere 1,23,167.

…………

Kachche Dhaage has dropped, but is still on the better side. 2nd week Bombay 38,42,747 (65.55%) from 13 cinemas (9 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 5,31,113 from 5 cinemas, 1st week Visnagar 1,25,500, 2nd week Padra 1,35,299, Rajkot 93,237, Jamnagar 1,26,582 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Bhuj 79,367, Patan 1,17,812, total 3,07,390; Solapur 1,08,736; 1st week Bijapur 1,73,315; 2nd week Delhi 37,27,547 from 11 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Kanpur 2,52,205 (1 unrecd.), Lucknow 2,70,464, Varanasi 1,73,598, Bareilly (6 days) 1,34,857 (55.46%), Hardwar 56,682; Calcutta 10,26,455 from 10 cinemas; Nagpur 4,92,591 from 3 cinemas, Jabalpur 2,12,079, Amravati (6 days) 1,33,599, Akola 1,10,041, total 3,10,944, Raipur (6 days) 1,06,701, Bhilai (6 days) 69,734, Durg (6 days) 56,231, Jalgaon (6 days) 1,13,492 (1st 1,91,673), 1st Yavatmal 1,09,992; 2nd week Bhopal 1,13,232; Jaipur 5,24,886, Ajmer 1,39,133, Bikaner (gross) 1,72,914; Hyderabad (gross) 7,01,126 from 3 cinemas; Mangalore 1,03,985.

Daag The Fire 3rd week Bombay 5,76,355 (49.69%) from 3 cinemas (4 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 2,23,426 from 3 cinemas, Rajkot 94,022; Solapur 78,658; Delhi 6,37,663 from 4 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 2,60,153 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 2,76,166, Varanasi 64,914, Bareilly 85,340 (31.06%), Hardwar 80,000; Calcutta 4,23,316 from 7 cinemas; Nagpur 88,459 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur 81,921, total 3,92,308, Amravati 1,22,780, Akola 1,06,190, total 3,99,090, share 3,05,500, Raipur 63,355, Bhilai 49,292, Jalgaon 81,856, total 4,22,661, Chandrapur 75,304, total 3,69,908, Yavatmal 47,194; Indore 1,82,102 from 2 cinemas, Bhopal 1,13,312; Jaipur 2,32,645, Bikaner 55,935; Hyderabad (gross) 5,37,569; Davangere 76,349.

Aa Ab Laut Chalen 6th week Bombay 5,76,158 (47.98%) from 2 cinemas; Ahmedabad 1,56,680 from 2 cinemas, 1st week Cambay 70,519, 6th week Rajkot (mg. shows) 21,477, Jamnagar (noon) 17,396; Solapur (matinee) 9,190; Delhi (TF) 3,86,730 from 2 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Kanpur 32,000, Lucknow 1,00,092, Varanasi 59,835, Hardwar 23,000, Muzaffarnagar 30,000, total 1,40,000; Calcutta 1,41,735; 5th week Jabalpur (TF) 37,649, total 3,46,767, 6th week Amravati 47,166, 2nd week Akola 56,000, 6th week Raipur (TF) 76,448, total 5,74,163, 4th week Chandrapur 68,098, total 3,78,417; 6th week Indore (TF) 91,470, 4th Bhopal (TF) 1,08,000; 6th week Hyderabad (gross) 2,73,643; 1st week Bellary 83,849.

Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain 6th week Bombay 24,28,474 (60.28%) from 9 cinemas (5 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 3,96,367 from 3 cinemas, Baroda 1,39,214 (5th 1,13,952), Rajkot 1,12,961 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Jamnagar 46,548; Solapur (14 shows) 1,05,107; Delhi 6,03,662 from 5 cinemas; Kanpur 1,59,402 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 2,21,698, Varanasi 94,000, Bareilly 24,498 (9.43%); Calcutta 4,12,528 from 4 cinemas; Nagpur 1,31,316 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur 41,891, total 5,60,820, Amravati 86,451, Akola 47,897, total 5,91,465, Raipur 65,041, Bhilai 56,909, 4th week Jalgaon 80,000, 6th Chandrapur 67,008, total 6,55,488; Jaipur 2,46,534 from 2 cinemas; Hyderabad (gross) 3,10,596.

Fire (dubbed, revived) 1st week Bombay 20,77,431 (62%) from 6 cinemas (8 on F.H.); Delhi 11,15,322 from 5 cinemas; Nagpur 56,790.

JAGMOHAN PASSES AWAY

Music director Jagmohan Bakshi (of Sapan-Jagmohan music director duo) passed away on 26th February in Bombay following a cardiac arrest. He was 69 and is survived by his wife, son and two daughters. The last rites were performed on 28th after his son’s arrival from abroad.

Jagmohan (like Sapan) was humble, polite and a simple person who never sought any publicity for his work.

Not many may be aware that Jagmohan started his career in 1951 as a playback singer with Navketan’s Taxi Driver under the baton of late S.D. Burman. He gave his voice to a song, Dekho maane nahi roothi hai haseena, which was picturised on Dev Anand.

In 1954, he formed a team with Sapan Sengupta and the duo scored music for as many as 90 films — 56 Hindi, 18 Punjabi and 16 Bengali. Their first assignment as music directors was a Punjabi film, Jijaji, which had super-hit songs. Their first Hindi film was Begana. One of its songs, Phir woh bhuli si yaad aayi hai, rendered by Mohd. Rafi, is still remembered. The duo’s other notable films were Chetna, Do Raha, Call Girl, Sajjo Rani, Mera Jivan and Darwaza.

Of late, Sapan Jagmohan were occupied with providing music for Hindi TV serials.

FILM INDUSTRY WITHDRAWS CALL TO BOYCOTT FILM CITY

The Federation of Western India Cine Employees, Film Makers Combine and Association of Motion Picture & TV Programme Producers have decided to revoke their call to boycott Film City. The decision to withdraw the boycott was taken on 4th March following a meeting of film industry representatives with Maharashtra minister for cultural affairs, Pramod Navalkar, and joint commissioner of police, Bombay, Dr. P.S. Pasricha. During the meeting, both, Navalkar and Pasricha, assured full protection to all film units and members of the film industry at Film City. Later on 4th March, the FWICE, FMC and AMPTPP unanimously decided at a joint meeting that only FWICE will be recognised by the film industry and no other group of workers would be granted recognition.

Earlier, on 26th February, FWICE, FMC and AMPTPP had issued a joint call to boycott Film City with immediate effect. The decision was taken soon after some Bharatiya Kamgar Sena activists stormed the sets of Dreamz & Filmz Pvt. Ltd. and disrupted the set-construction activity there. The BKS activists had taken this course following the producers’ refusal to meet their demand to employ their workers in the set construction. They (BKS activists) even got physical with the producers’ workers and the latter too retaliated. In the exchange of blows and fisticuffs, at least 3 BKS activists were injured badly and had to be hospitalised. The police arrested members of both the groups.

YOU ASKED IT

What must be the number of audio cassettes of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai that’ve been sold so far?

– Sony Music has so far sold more than 53 lakh units of the film.

Why has the Gujarat sub-territory suddenly become so cold?

– Artificially high prices of films for the sub-territory have led to heavy losses for the sub-distributors. The sub-circuit was, therefore, bound to become cold.

Why do star prices and film prices not come down to more realistic levels?

– Because of insecurity and greed of artistes and producers.

DO YOU KNOW?

* Amitabh Bachchan performed a daring stunt recently for Mehul Kumar’s KOHRAM despite the director and action director (Bhiku Verma) insisting that he use the services of a duplicate. Riding down the steps of Mount Mary’s church at Bandra, Bombay, atop a heavy motorcycle, Amitabh had to next cling on to a moving truck on its underside.

* LAL BAADSHAH has created a pink city record by collecting 2,74,000/- on the opening day (5 cinemas; 5 shows in 4 cinemas, and 6 shows in 1 cinema) in Jaipur. One show was held at Paras cinema on Thursday night without publicity and that was full. …In Jodhpur, the film collected 98,000/- on the first day at Nasrani cinema.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Kuch Kuch Naya Hai

The teaser trailer of Boney Kapoor’s Sirf Tum as well as the trailer (which is now on air on satellite channels) have been conceptualised by Karan Johar. The teaser trailer did not have the film’s title. Nor did it show any faces; it just showed two hands meeting, and a caption to the effect: ‘Can you ever fall in love with a person whom you’ve never met?’ The caption captures the essence of the film because…….. saying anything more would be giving out the film’s story. So we leave it at that.

Unusual Does The Trick?

The unusual invariably does the trick. Like it has done in the case of Guddu Dhanoa’s new film, titled Bichhoo. The unusual film title has drawn distributors’ attention to the film for which deals have been finalised for almost all the territories. Incidentally, Sudesh Gupta, manager of Subhash Ghai’s Mukta Arts, happened to see the logo of Bichhoo. He swears, it is imaginative and fantastic. The logo has been designed by Valles Publicity.

“A film’s climax shouldn’t look like a climax, it should be the culmination of the entire drama.”

– SUBHASH GHAI

The entire floor of Filmistan Studios has been converted into a studio of a huge entertainment company. The studio is very futuristic in its look, what with a dancing floor, a cafetaria on top, an office etc. etc. The eye-catching set is the brainchild of art director Sharmishta Roy and the film for which it has been constructed is Subhash Ghai’s Taal. Ghai is shooting a music piece on the set, involving plenty of dancers and musicians, and choreographing the same is young Ahmed Khan.

Subhash Ghai, after hours of rehearsals, sets the camera and discusses the shot with his cameraman, Kabir Lall. Since it is an elaborate shot, requiring the use of a crane and trolley, the exact timing of the camera movements is of paramount importance. Once the detailing of the camera movements is taken over by Kabir, Ghai goes to the area where the musicians are seated and gets the seating arrangements reorganised. All this, while Ahmed Khan is making the dancers rehearse and perfect their steps.

The scene requires, besides the dancers and the musicians, Anil Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai, Alok Nath, Mita Vashisth and Saurabh Shukla to participate. Anil is the rich studio owner, and the scene shows his team rehearsing for a show. Aishwarya and her father, who’ve come to Bombay from a small-time town, have been called that day by Anil Kapoor for a possible job offer (for Aishwarya). Mita Vashisth is Aishwarya’s aunt who is negotiating the deal. Saurabh Shukla plays Anil’s secretary.

Aishwarya and her father have never seen anything like this studio ever before and quite understandably so. They stare wide-eyed and even while they are waiting to be called by Anil, they see him oversee the rehearsal and just walk away from there into his chamber on the mezzanine floor without so much as even acknowledging their presence. This perplexes them and they wonder why he did not talk to them as he himself had asked them to see him. His secretary puts them at ease and tells them that his boss has four eyes, two in the front and two behind, and that his eyes at the back of his head had seen Aishwarya and the others waiting and that he would therefore call them. Sure enough, just then, Anil Kapoor calls out to the three waiting for him.

There are several takes before the shot is okayed. In between shots, Subhash Ghai reveals a part of the story and says, he is very pleased with the climax he has shot. Climax shot? “Yes,” informs Ghai, “I have already shot the difficult climax.” Explaining why he had shot the climax first, much before a major part of the film, he says, “Very often, climax, when shot last, looks very different from the rest of the film. This time, therefore, I decided to shoot the climax much in advance so that the portions before the climax can be shot in relation thereto. The idea is that the climax shouldn’t look like a climax but should be the culmination of the entire drama. Once the climax is shot, I can make sure that the earlier part of the film is going in the right direction.” Elaborating further about the climax shooting, Ghai says, “Anil fell ill while shooting it — he was so tense because it was a difficult climax for him and he obviously wanted to give his best.” Subhash is more than happy with Anil’s performance in the climax. In fact, Ghai is totally sold on Anil’s sincerity and jokes, “I wonder what Anil’s old age will be like, the guy is so hyper.”

Was the poor fate of Akshaye Khanna (the other hero of Taal) starrers disturbing Ghai? “I’m not disturbed, but the responsibility on my shoulders has increased. Akshaye is a good actor and he deserves a hit. I hope, he gets it fast because otherwise, the best of actors can be shattered.”

Talking of his scripting, the filmmaker reveals how he had not been able to control his tears when he was writing one particular emotional scene between Aishwarya and Alok Nath. “The tears just welled up in my eyes and came right on the paper on which I was writing the scene.” How had the scene, which had made him cry while writing it, shaped out to be on celluloid? “Oh, fantastic,” says Ghai contentedly.

Taal is being readied for release in August. Considering that the entire talkie portion will be complete after the current schedule which will stretch till mid-April, the release date should not be difficult to meet. After the ongoing shooting spell, only a song and a rain sequence will remain to be picturised. Talking of songs brings one to the film’s music director, A.R. Rahman. Just the music piece being shot then gives an idea of how brilliant the songs of the film must be. The effort that has gone into preparing and recording the songs is too much. And not just because A.R. Rahman had preferred to record the songs of Taal only in the nights. Maybe, that is when he had his sur and taal the rightest!

– Komal Nahta

KAUN

Kshitij Production Combines’ Kaun (A) is a real-time suspense drama aimed at terrifying the audience. It is about a girl who is scared stiff because she is alone at home (a huge home) on a stormy, rainy evening. The television news announces that a psychopathic killer is at large, which terrifies the girl even more. Suddenly, her doorbell rings and a man, asking for somebody, begs of her to let him in till the weather clears. She refuses. He persists. And finally, she finds him in her house. His behaviour makes her imagine, he is the killer. Even while she is trembling with fear and he is shivering of cold, a second intruder comes into the house. The two guys accuse each other of being the dreaded psychopath. The petrified girl is confused and since the suspense is about who the killer is, the audience is supposed to get into a guessing game. The ending, which deals with the revelation and much more, solves the mystery. The first half hardly moves. In the second half, the wordy duel between the two guys is entertaining but even though the audience may enjoy the war of words, its thirst for fright remains unsatiated. Also, this very entertaining bit detracts the story from the horrifying drama, which is not desirable. Because, since the entire film is shot in one bungalow only, it becomes a tedious and monotonous exercise for the viewer.

The film has just three characters. The three players and sound (effects and background score) play important roles in the 1-hour-56-minute drama. Although director Ram Gopal Varma has tried to exploit the lurking fear in a viewer’s mind, writer Anurag Kashyap lets him down badly, with a script that gives too much time to the audience to think. In this kind of films, the ideal situation would be to provide edge-of-the-seat thrills and chills and that would be possible only in a fast-paced drama. But the movement in Kaun is slow at many places, which raises questions in the viewers’ minds — questions like why the girl does not run out of the house and lock the two intruders inside, why she lets the first one in, etc. If the writer and director would like the audience to believe that there are no neighbours or neighbourhood, the same should have been established. Of course, the film’s ending answers the above questions that come to mind, but then, new questions arise at that point — questions like why the girl did not let the guys inside the house willingly, etc. In fact, the last scene in the film shows the girl rejoicing the fact that someone is knocking at her door again — something she wasn’t excited about when the drama started in the same fashion.

Another major drawback of the film is that it seeks to terrify through sound rather than substance. That is to say, the sound effects are more scary than the drama. The absence of songs and the short length of the film may be justified as far as the subject goes but since the merits are lacking, these become negative factors for the traditional audience. Besides, a major part of the drama looks unbelievable and unrealistic.

Urmila Matondkar does well in some scenes but is average in others, may be because the conviction in the drama is absent. Manoj Bajpayee acts ably but his character gets boring at places. However, even his performance is not flawless. For instance, when he fears that there’s yet another intruder in Urmila’s house (towards the ending), he shouts out to her repeatedly, to be careful and sometimes does so in a sing-song way (Ma’am, ma’am, ma’…….am)! Sushant Kumar fails to impress. His expressions do not befit his character and his dubbing also is dull.

Ram Gopal Varma’s shot compositions and takings are beautiful but much more effort should have gone into the script to have made it a terrifying drama. Although the man deserves to be complimented for trying out something different from the usual commercial stuff, his lapse in selection of a plausible script needs to be criticised. Editing should have been much more crisp. Action scenes are reasonably well composed. Sound effects are absolutely astounding. Background music is also wonderful. Photography is good.

On the whole, Kaun does not have enough material to scare the viewer and, therefore, does not serve the purpose for which it was made. A film for very selected cinemas in a few major cities only, especially of Bombay, Maharashtra and Southwards, it will entail losses to most of its distributors.

Released on 25-2-’99 at Metro and 26-2-’99 at 9 other cinemas of Bombay thru V.I.P. Enterprises. Publicity: very good. Opening: fair. …….Also released all over. Opening was disastrous at many places.

LATEST POSITION

It was a normal week. ….Collections in several parts of the country are likely to be adversely affected due to pre-Holi days.

Kachche Dhaage has done very well in 1st week but the drop from 5th day onwards was too noticeable everywhere. It has collected excellent at ‘B’ class centres too. 1st week Bombay 54,54,720 (79.91%) from 14 cinemas (9 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 13,97,298 from 8 cinemas, Padra 2,00,154, Rajkot 1,71,160 from 2 cinemas, Jamnagar (matinee) 32,000 (1 in regular unrecd.), Patan 1,89,578, Bhuj 1,27,696; Pune 13,58,353 from 6 cinemas (1 in matinee), Kolhapur 2,17,389, Solapur 3,04,266 from 2 cinemas; Belgaum 1,12,799 (100%), Dharwad 1,43,791; Delhi 57,76,205 (77.97%) from 13 cinemas (1 unrecd., 1 on F.H.); Kanpur 6,35,950 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 4,33,517, Varanasi 2,44,054, Bhadohi 1,34,373 (88.18%), Alllahabad 1,97,552, Meerut 2,62,668, Bareilly 2,58,156 (91%), Dehradun 2,41,680 (83.85%), Hardwar 1,00,123, Muzaffarnagar 1,74,468; excellent in East Punjab, Ludhiana 3,80,996 (100%), Rohtak 58,664; Calcutta 24,75,625 from 18 cinemas; did very well in Bihar in 1st week; Nagpur 9,00,158 from 4 cinemas, Jabalpur 3,08,515, Akola 2,00,903, Raipur (6 days) 2,10,621, Bhilai (6 days) 42,663 (1 unrecd.), Durg (6 days) 1,18,952, Jalgaon (6 days) 1,73,443; Bhopal 1,78,755 (1 on F.H.); Jaipur 12,75,154 from 4 cinemas, Ajmer (29 shows) 1,71,636, Bikaner 2,56,566; Hyderabad (gross) 34,08,713 from 15 cinemas.

………..

Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain 5th week Bombay 20,69,439 (65.05%) from 8 cinemas (4 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 4,09,953 from 3 cinemas, Baroda 1,13,953, Rajkot 90,740 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Jamnagar 40,000; Pune 5,28,608 from 3 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 1,48,357, 1st week Barsi 57,202; 5th week Delhi 5,88,685 from 4 cinemas; Kanpur 1,48,165 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 2,27,856, Varanasi 85,521, Allahabad 56,483, Meerut 91,903, Bareilly 32,022 (10.56%), Dehradun 99,654 (4th 1,39,000), Hardwar 18,000; Calcutta 4,11,792 from 4 cinemas; Nagpur 2,52,951 from 3 cinemas, Jabalpur 64,055, total 5,18,928, Akola 61,122, total 5,43,568, Raipur 82,469, Bhilai 86,432, 3rd week Jalgaon 89,003, 5th Gondia (gross) 56,866, Chandrapur 66,524, total 5,88,480, Yavatmal 25,539, total 2,78,730; Jaipur 1,62,578, 4th Bikaner 51,580; 5th week Hyderabad (gross) 3,07,795.

AJAY DEVGAN WEDS KAJOL

Ajay Devgan got married to Kajol at a simple ceremony at the former’s house on 24th February. Only family members and close friends were present. The wedding was a low-key affair, presumably due to the recent demise of Ajay’s grandmother.

YOU ASKED IT

Why do producers have to go to court to restrain cable operators from screening their films when the law itself does not permit the operators to screen them?

– That’s the tragedy of the country we live in. And the worst part is that in spite of being restrained by court orders, cable operators do show films.

In your item on the big films due for release in 1999, the name of Venus’ Josh was missing. Will Josh not come this year?

– The list of releases was not exhaustive. JOSH will definitely be released in 1999.

Is Ram Gopal Varma’s Mast half-complete? I hear, it will be released next year. Is that so?

– MAST will be complete by June/July and the film will be released in August/September this year. Although it stars Urmila Matondkar with a newcomer (Aftab), the film is a big-budget extravaganza with many songs.

DO YOU KNOW?

* Karisma Kapoor, who has not had a single release since over a year, after DIL TO PAGAL HAI, may well be seen on screen for the first time in 1999 in N.N. Sippy’s SILSILA HAI PYAR KA. As if to remind the world that her last film was DIL TO PAGAL HAI, the new film has a song with the title of Yash Chopra’s film in it. That and the film’s title song are good, catchy numbers. There’s one more ‘Padosan’ song which is also good.

* Amitabh Bachchan was accorded the status of presidential guest by the Sri Lankan government during his first ever visit to the country from February 1 to 14 for the shooting of Padmalaya’s SOORYAVANSHAM.

* Vinod Khanna will be seen in a TV serial for the first time on 1st March on DD1 in SHOORVEER MAHARANA PRATAP. He plays the title role in it and his heroine is Poonam Dhillon.

Dream Merchant

Budget Blues

With the Union Budget to be announced, there’s a lot of speculation in the trade about what the Budget proposals have in store for the film industry. With so much talk about the Budget, I dreamt about the industry people’s expectations from the Union Budget to be presented in Parliament today, 27th February. I dreamt about what the following people had to say about their hopes/expectations from the Budget.

Govinda was praying that the Budget allowed producers to claim 10% of the actual expenditure incurred on a film, as Artistes’ Late-Coming Expenditure. For that, the only proof required to be submitted would be a contract with the Hero No. 1. No proof of actual cash outgoings would be insisted upon by the Income-Tax Department.

Anil Kapoor said, he had inside information that producers who signed stars who do not command an initial, would be given a rebate of 20% of their profits. The government was doing this, according to Anil, “at the behest of the anti-Khan lobby” because only films starring the three Khans — Shah Rukh, Aamir and Salman — were opening to bumper houses.

Mithun Chakraborty said that he had used top connections to ensure that the new Budget would make it mandatory for all producers to shoot at least one schedule in Ooty. If a producer failed to shoot at the hill-station, he would not be entitled to the benefits of the two new sections viz. section 80-OO and section 80-TY to be introduced in the Income-Tax Act. Mithun, however, refused to divulge the details of the new sections.

Sunil Shetty was hoping that the new Budget proposals would give at least some relief or rebate to producers who made films on sports, whether cricket, football, kho-kho or hu tu tu. This, he said, would encourage producers to risk their monies on sports films despite the debacle of sports films, which, he felt, would go a long way in including the sportsman spirit in today’s youth — and producers alike!

Juhi Chawla, who has given up non-vegetarian food and has turned vegetarian, hoped, the government would do something about non-vegetarian jokes in films. She felt, a penalty calculated at 2% of the net profit of the producer for every 100 prints of the film taken out would be a good deterrent.

Mahesh Bhatt said, biographical films needed to be given a push and so also remakes of Hollywood films, the latter because they would expose Indians to the culture of the West. He also said that he had been assured by the Union finance minister that producers of biographical films would not be required to pay income-tax on profits from those films provided they were a true account of the lives of the people whose biographies they dealt with. Producers of remakes of foreign films would be granted a special deduction calculated at 5 times the cost of VCR, LD player, video cassettes, LDs etc. with no upper limit. This would be allowed under a new section 80-HFC to be introduced after section 80-HHC of the Income-Tax Act, which deals with exports of films. According to an inside source, the ‘HFC’ in 80-HFC stands for ‘Hollywood Films ki Chori’!

Chandrachur Singh, Arshad Warsi, Mukul Dev and Sharad Kapoor were hoping that the Budget would give special concession to makers of films starring newcomers. The definition of a “newcomer” would include every artiste who has no successful solo starrer to his credit. Thus, every artiste would continue to be a newcomer (for the purpose of the special concession to his producer) till the time at least one solo starrer of his proved a success.

Gulshan Rai, Subhash Ghai, Gordhan Tanwani and Shekhar Kapur were very hopeful that a new chapter in the Income-tax Act would be added in this year’s Budget. It would deal with producers’ expenditure under the head of extortion money. They said, they had reliable information that payments made to extortionists would be allowed as revenue expenditure if made at least 3 months before the end of the financial year for which it would be so allowed. If, however, the money was paid less than 3 months before the year-end, only 50% would be allowed as expenditure and the balance would have to be capitalised and could be written off in the books of account over a period of 3 years. To avail of the benefits under the new chapter, producers would have to prove that they, in fact, received threatening calls from extortionists and they did try to avoid the expenditure. A proviso in the chapter would make it mandatory for all producers to make payments to extortionists by account payee cheques or demand drafts only. Confirmation letters from the extortionists would be required to be submitted by producers alongwith their returns of income.

Actors like Akshay Kumar and Akshaye Khanna were very sure that as per their request, the Budget would provide for suitable amendments in the I-T Act so that actors whose three films flop in a row in one year would not be required to pay any income-tax for that year. Like every dark could has a silver lining, every third consecutive flop would have a tax-free lining.

Overseas distributor Kishore Lulla had dashed a telegram to Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The telegram requested for free trade between India and Pakistan and a tax holiday of 10 years for profits earned from export of Indian films to the neighbouring country. Of course, the prints of the films would have to be transported to Pakistan by bus! Yes, by the historic bus to Lahore.

– Komal Nahta

INFORMATION MEETS

“For me, it was never the question of choosing art over commerce or vice
versa. I wanted to make something
that was entertaining and that people
would want to see.”

– JOHN MATHEW MATTHAN

RAJ VAIDYA

John Mathew Matthan is reluctant to talk about Sarfarosh, his maiden venture as producer-director. At least this much is clear within the first few minutes of the conversation. ‘I’d rather you see it and then, tell me what you think of it’, says he and you realise that his reluctance to talk about the film does not stem from a fear of shooting his mouth. It actually signifies the supreme confidence that he has in his film. And why not? The trade buzz on this Aamir Khan starrer is encouraging, to say the least.

Having been an ad filmmaker for more than a decade and a half, Matthan returns to his first love, feature films, with Sarfarosh. In his first-ever interview with the press, he comes across as a confident, intelligent and a completely unassuming person. He also has a great sense of humour. Like when asked what genre did Sarfarosh belong to, he says, ‘Even I don’t know. In fact, I am waiting for the film to release so that I can go to a video library and see whether they slot it as action, drama, or other. Then I’ll know!’

You seem to be one of the very few people who have made a successful transition from ad films to feature films. Why don’t you start by telling us how it all began?

Actually, I started my career in feature films and then switched over to advertising. You see, I had just finished a post-graduate diploma in Mass Communications from Xavier’s, Bombay when I got my break as chief assistant director to Govind Nihalani in his directorial debut, Aakrosh (1980). Later, I was the first assistant director in the Oscar-winning Gandhi (1983). But, by then, I also realised that it was very difficult to survive as just an assistant in the film industry as one only gets paid a pittance. So, I turned to making ad films, primarily in search of security. During the next 12 or 13 years, I went on to make nearly 400-500 ad films on almost every conceivable product under the sun. I have made ad films for the entire range of, say, detergents, be it Wheel, Surf, Rin, OK or Nirma. I also made the first ever Garden sarees ad, apart from those for Tips & Toes, Lifebuoy soap and countless others. In the process, I gained a tremendous amount of confidence in my abilities and earned some money too.

You obviously had it really good as an established ad filmmaker. What prompted you to venture back into the uncertain world of feature films?

After having made such a huge number of ad films, I had reached a point where I was fed up of them. Moreover, I had found the financial security that had prompted me into this field long ago. I also had the confidence that I could now direct a feature film. So, I guess, it was a logical switch back to full-length features. This decided, I began to think about the kind of film I wanted to make. I knew that at that time, it was easier to get a nod from NFDC or to raise funds for a small film, and go ahead and make it. But then, I also realised that those kind of films do not get the right exposure. So, I decided against that route. I wanted my film to get exposure. I mean, what is the purpose of making a film if it is not going to be seen by the audience? Ultimately, films are made for the audience to see, and the only way to ensure this is to make a mainstream film. For me, it was never the question of choosing art over commerce or vice versa. I wanted to make something that was entertaining and that people would want to see. With this in mind, I started working on the script for Sarfarosh. I chose a subject which is modern and, in many ways, unique to today’s times. The film is about the perilous nature of lives ordinary citizens lead in the grim shadow of the constantly increasing terrorism.

Sounds interesting, but how did you manage to rope in Aamir Khan in the project, considering your newcomer status as producer-director?

Even while I was scripting Sarfarosh, it was clear to me that Aamir could be one of the better options to play the lead. So, once I had completed scripting, I approached Aamir with a request to hear out the script. He gave me an hour at Sunny Super Sounds where he was to participate in the background score for one of his films. I explained to him that my script was three hours long and hence it wasn’t possible for me to narrate it in an hour. He respected that and, within a week, gave me the time I required. I went and just read out the script — not narrated it in a dramatic manner — and was pleasantly surprised at the end of it when Aamir said, he would do the film. I guess, what worked in my favour initially was the fact that I had a bound script on my hands. Later, Aamir did take a little time in checking me out, but that was simply because this was my maiden venture as a producer, and Aamir was naturally concerned about my being able to back it up financially. Here, Manmohan Shetty of Adlabs gave me a lot of support. I have had a nearly 20-year-long association with him and it was he who assured Aamir that the film wouldn’t run into any sort of trouble. Not only this, he also organised finance for the film. Soon, Aamir gave his nod and the project took off.

How much time did you spend in the scripting?

The scripting of Sarfarosh took nearly six to eight months. That was because I did a lot of research before actually sitting down and writing the film. Everybody asked me why I was wasting my time and whether I was going to make a documentary on terrorism. But, I am of the opinion that it is not possible to understand terrorism sitting in Bombay. You have to go out there were it is rampant and meet people who are affected by it. You must also meet people who have been a part of it and those who are against it. Only then can you begin to write about it in a knowledgeable manner. Meeting all these people helped me a great deal while scripting Sarfarosh. I was able to extract so many real-life stories from them and, in some instances, even dialogues. I later incorporated quite a lot of these in my original plot.

What kind of film is SARFAROSH?

It is really difficult to categorise Sarfarosh in a particular genre. I’d rather you see the film and tell me where it fits in. It has all the elements of a commercial mainstream film. The film opens in New Delhi where Aamir resides with his family. He is still studying in college and, one fine day, bumps into Sonali Bendre and they both experience the sparks of love. However, their romance ends prematurely when Aamir’s family is affected by terrorism and has to abruptly shift to Bombay. Once in Bombay, Aamir, a graduate now, lands himself a respectable job and begins a new chapter in life, until a chance meeting with Sonali at a ghazal concert revives his love. Matters soon come to a head when the dark shadow of terrorism catches up with his family.

Sarfarosh is an intense film and required an equally intense background score. I am fortunate that my team of musicians (refuses to name them for some reason) have given me a score that is better than what I had expected. Jatin Lalit have, likewise, given me a wonderful musical score, in six songs that befit the theme.

An increasing breed of new directors and screenwriters hate the compulsion of including songs in each and every film, regardless of its theme. What are your views?

All I can say is that one has to accept reality. If you choose to make a mainstream commercial film, then you must also accept that there will be six or seven songs in it. As a director, it becomes your job to figure out how to do it. I agree that Sarfarosh is not really a subject where there is great scope for songs. But, I couldn’t let that interfere and trouble me when I started off because my attitude towards songs would be negative then. Moreover, making a songless film with Aamir Khan is like making a statement and I did not want that. So, I accepted this compulsion right from the start and also figured out a way to do it.

Out of the six songs in the film, the title song, Sarfaroshi ki shama dil mein jalaa lo yaaron / Zindagi maut na ban jaaye sambhaalo yaaron, sets the framework of the film. Then, there is a ghazal being sung at the concert where Aamir and Sonali meet in Bombay. A flashback incorporated in the ghazal tells the audience about their love affair in New Delhi. Thus, the ghazal becomes a part of the narrative. The remaining songs, I have used as relief points in the film.

Coming to Aamir, what has been his contribution to SARFAROSH, apart from acting?

Aamir has been an excellent support to me throughout the film. He stood by me through everything and continues to do so even now. He is not the kind of an actor who just comes on the sets, does his job and leaves. He contributes a lot to the film in a very positive way. He has also been very respectful to me. See, when I began the film, I had not worked with anyone in my unit and hence my crew and the artistes probably did not know how to treat me. So, the respect they gave me was because of the respect Aamir gave me. There were also times when I wanted a particular thing in a particular way. It is to Aamir’s credit that he trusted my judgement and saw to it that I got what I wanted. He had the confidence to trust me and I owe him that.

Being a first-time producer, how was your experience with the trade?

Well, I have closed all territories except Andhra… so, I guess, the experience has been good. I must confess that I did not get the price I had in mind, but still managed a very good one in spite of having absolutely no track record in feature films.

Finally, what was the controversy surrounding SARFAROSH which led to the change of distributor for Bombay territory?

I would not like to comment on that. All I can say is that wait for ten days and it will all clear up. The matter is currently being sorted out by IMPDA.

KACHCHE DHAAGE

Tips Films P. Ltd.’s Kachche Dhaage (UA) is a thriller. The story of the misadventures of two step-brothers who are jointly framed for terrorist activities, the film deals with their travails as also their relationship and ultimately with how they come out of the frame-up. The first half is very good and credit for this goes to story and screenplay writer Anjum Rajabali who keeps the audience guessing about what the next scene would be. The second half becomes routine but again, once the revelation of the traitors comes, it becomes exciting and interesting. The ending, however, is hurried and looks quite abrupt. Romance is almost totally absent in the film which abounds in action. Emotions do touch the heart at a couple of places although there was scope for some more of them. Dialogues (Milan Luthria and Sanjay Chhel) are very good and punch-packed at several places. The little jokes between the two heroes are enjoyable.

Ajay Devgan does an excellent job as the illegitimate child angry with the whole world. He lends an impressive intensity to his character and uses his eyes to convey a lot of his emotions. Saif Ali Khan, as the flamboyant city boy, is truly lovable and easy-going. Between the two of them, they make the audience laugh at several places. Manisha Koirala has been wasted; she appears in songs and a few scenes but doesn’t get any scope whatsoever to act. She looks pretty. Namrata Shirodkar does quite well. Govind Namdeo is absolutely natural and shines as the overambitious police officer. Sadashiv Amarapurkar is effective. Vineet Kumar is good. Maya Alagh, S.M. Zaheer, Mahavir Shah, Rajesh Vivek, Annu Kapoor, Parmeet Sethi, Simran, Ishrat Ali, Sanjay Goradia and the rest lend good support.

Milan Luthria makes a reasonably confident debut as a director. Although his narration is not without avoidable flaws, he, nevertheless, shows the spark. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s music and Anand Bakshi’s lyrics make a good combination. ‘Dil pardesi ho gaya’, ‘Ishq di galli’ and ‘Dil dena hee painda hai’ are wonderful songs. The ‘Dhola’ number is also very melodious but it comes at an inappropriate time. The ‘Nawazta hai jo sabko woh dilnawaz hai tu’ qawwali, rendered by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, is excellent and holds special appeal for the Muslim audience. Its picturisation too is beautiful. But a couple of other songs should have had better picturisations. Tinnu Verma’s action scenes and thrills are brilliant. In fact, action is a major plus point of the film. The train sequence is quite breathtaking. Camerawork (Gopal S. Reddy) is wonderful. Editing is crisp. Background score is very effective.

On the whole, Kachche Dhaage has an appealing first half, abundant action, melodious music and praiseworthy performances of the two heroes on the plus side but too routine a second half on the weak side. Having taken a flying start, it will yield returns to its distributors. The film has special appeal for Muslim centres.

Released on 19-2-’99 at Maratha Mandir and 22 other cinemas of Bombay thru Devgan’s Entertainment. Publicity & opening: excellent. (A record number of 82 prints have been released in a record number of 101 cinemas in the circuit.) …….Also released all over. Opening was extraordinary in U.P., East Punjab and Rajasthan.

LATEST POSITION

After DAAG last week, KACHCHE DHAAGE this week has also opened to very good houses almost everywhere.

Daag The Fire has amassed excellent shares in the 1st week due to the bumper opening. 1st week Bombay 49,59,116 (85.55%) from 12 cinemas (6 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 12,21,073 from 7 cinemas, Rajkot 1,64,454; Pune 10,74,577 from 4 cinemas, Kolhapur 2,13,000, Solapur 3,07,963 from 2 cinemas; Belgaum 1,47,693; Delhi 48,79,852 (81.24%) from 2 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Kanpur 5,71,055 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 4,40,348, Varanasi 2,90,220, Bareilly 2,17,000 (78.98%), Dehradun 2,28,512; Calcutta 26,50,432 from 19 cinemas; excellent in Bihar; Nagpur 7,52,348 from 4 cinemas, Jabalpur 2,00,074 (100%), Amravati 2,58,000, Akola (29 shows) 1,70,000 (100%), Raipur 1,84,044, Bhilai 1,60,000, Jalgaon 2,30,657, Chandrapur 2,00,051, Yavatmal 1,36,764; Indore 3,74,295 (77.38%) from 2 cinemas (3 on F.H.), Bhopal 3,97,971 from 2 cinemas; Jaipur 10,67,084 from 4 cinemas, Bikaner 1,94,600; Hyderabad (gross) 32,34,130 from 14 cinemas (1 in noon); Guntur (gross, 5 days) 77,964, Ongole (gross, 5 days) 79,866.

………….

Bombay Boys (dubbed) 1st week Bombay 79,920 (19.30%) from 1 cinema; Lucknow 1,27,739; Jaipur 1,19,533.

………….

Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain 4th week Bombay 33,41,949 (78.51%) from 10 cinemas (4 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 3,66,946 from 2 cinemas (2 unrecd.), Rajkot 1,37,460 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), 3rd week Jamnagar 63,130; 4th week Pune 6,50,965 from 3 cinemas, Kolhapur 1,62,349, Solapur 1,73,813; Delhi 13,58,131 from 6 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 2,45,297 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 2,98,498, Varanasi 1,19,719, Bareilly 46,498 (15.34%), Dehradun 1,39,000 (3rd 1,46,002), Hardwar 40,000; Rohtak 5,089; Calcutta 5,31,555 from 4 cinemas; Nagpur 3,34,297 from 3 cinemas, Jabalpur 87,207, total 4,54,872, Amravati 1,27,651, Akola 93,005, total 4,82,445, Raipur 1,08,187, Bhilai 96,247, 2nd week Jalgaon 1,20,841, 4th week Gondia (gross) 65,922, Chandrapur 84,456, total 5,21,956, Yavatmal 34,614 (3rd 46,008), Bilaspur 87,162; Jaipur 2,10,900, 3rd week Bikaner 79,201; 4th week Hyderabad (gross) 4,92,885 from 3 cinemas (1 in noon).

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai 18th week Bombay 9,15,021 (40.52%) from 4 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Baroda 92,340; Pune 5,62,196 from 4 cinemas (1 in matinee), Kolhapur 87,000, Solapur (matinee) 32,050; Delhi 1,56,947 (2 on F.H.); Kanpur 1,24,624 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 2,30,810, Dehradun 48,000, Hardwar 19,000; Calcutta 1,48,648; Nagpur 66,879, 13th week Jabalpur 98,481, total 22,15,771, 18th week Amravati (6 days) 50,560, Akola 45,173, total 17,60,000, 5th week Durg (6 days, gross) 29,128, total 2,87,922, 6th week Balaghat (5 days) 22,340, total 3,38,546; 18th week Indore  55,936, Bhopal 91,931; Jaipur 4,33,307; Hyderabad (gross) 3,05,856.

‘FIRE’ CLEARED AGAIN BY CBFC

Deepa Mehta’s Fire has been cleared by the CBFC again. It had been referred to the Central Board of Film Certification by the I & B ministry following violent protests against the film’s screening in Bombay and Delhi in December ’98. It is likely to be released again in Bombay next week. It was re-released in Delhi this week. It has been running in other parts of the country.

MADHOO WEDS

Actress Madhoo got married to Anand Shah, cousin of Jai Mehta and Juhi Chawla, on 19th February. Jai and Juhi will hold a reception in their honour this evening (20th February) at their residence at Malabar Hill, Bombay.

ARSHAD WARSI WEDS

Arshad Warsi got married to his girlfriend, Maria, on 14th February in Bombay.

HRITHIK ROSHAN INJURED

Hrithik Roshan was injured on the set of Kahoo Naa…Pyaar Hai on 13th February while doing a stunt scene. His injury may not permit him to do stunts for about a fortnight and, therefore, producer-director Rakesh Roshan has postponed the erection of a set for the film, at Film City, on which shooting was to start shortly.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

1999 — The Year Of Excitement Galore

The year 1999 is easily one of the most crucial years in the history of film trade. For, rarely, if ever, have so many big films been released in a single year as will be released in 1999. Just take a look at some of the big films due in the rest of 1999: Jaanam Samjha Karo, Lal Baadshah, Sarfarosh, Pukaar, Pyar Koi Khel Nahin, Aap Mere Hain Sanam, Anari No. 1, Arjun Pandit, Badshah, Biwi No. 1, Chal Mere Bhai, Champion, Dil Kya Kare, Dillagi, Farz, Haseena Maan Jayegi, Hindustan Ki Kasam, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Hum Saath Saath Hain, Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai, Kohram, Kunwara, Mann, Albela, Mast, Mela, Refugee, Chhalia, Sooryavansham, Taal…… Phew! And the above list is not exhaustive by any means.

As if this weren’t enough, there are several other films which may be included in the above list on the strength of their casts, if not for their directors. These include Laawaris, Khauff, 1947 (Earth), Friends, Hum To Mohabbat Karega, Jaanwar, Kartoos, Khoobsurat, One Two Ka Four, Rajaji, Shikari, Silsila Hai Pyar Ka, Takshak, Hadh Kardi Aapne and S. Raamanathan’s untitled film with Amitabh.

It is plain to see from the above list that a lot depends on the outcome at the box-office this year. A lot many fortunes will be made or, God forbid, if many of these big films bomb, a lot is also at stake. We will only have to wait and see how the industry fares during this booming — if we may use the term — year. In the meantime, the trade may look ahead with optimism brought in by HADMRH and Daag The Fire.

History Repeats

For Anil Kapoor, the behaviour of D. Rama Naidu’s Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain at the box-office has not been too different from how his Judaai had behaved. Like Judaai, it took the audience lesser time than the trade people to accept HADMRH as a hit. And just as Judaai was comparatively weak in Rajasthan, HADMRH too had a terribly slow start. Of course, Judaai did consolidate its position in Rajasthan after about 4 weeks of its release and so Anil is hoping, HADMRH too repeats the Judaai trick in the Rajasthan territory.

Manisha And 1999

In spite of having had a dismal 1998 (in which she gave super-duds like Yugpurush, Achanak, Maharaja and Dil Se..), Manisha Koirala has a lot to look forward to in this year. She is all set to invade the box-office with a string of releases in the coming few months. Opening her 1999 account with Ajay-Saif starrer Kachche Dhaage (released yesterday), Manisha’s further releases include the Jackie-Akshaye starrer Laawaris (releasing on 5th March) and K.C. Bokadia’s Lal Baadshah (in March). The months of April and May may well see the release of her other films like Manoj Kumar’s Jaihind, JSEL’S long-delayed Grahan, Firoz A. Nadiadwala’s Kartoos, Madan Mohla’s Chhupa Rustam and director Sanjay Gupta’s Khauff. Still later, there will be Hindustan Ki Kasam, Mann, Moksha and Champion.

DAAG THE FIRE

Inderjit Films Combine’s Daag The Fire (A) is the story of a criminal lawyer who uses his intelligence to shield and save criminals from the clutches of law and judiciary. He uses his legal prowess to support the evil designs of his father-in-law and his cronies. In one such case, he proves in court an honest municipal commissioner to be corrupt and has him imprisoned. His father-in-law then has the municipal commissioner killed in jail. This infuriates the son of the deceased and he sets out to kill the lawyer. But instead, it is the lawyer’s beloved wife who falls prey to his bullets. The lawyer loses his mental balance and it takes a nautch girl, who is a look-alike of his wife, to bring him back to normalcy. The lawyer takes her to be his wife but soon learns of his real wife’s death and he gets married to the look-alike to repay her for her sacrifices to cure him. What’s more, the lawyer, after treatment, becomes a noble soul and sets out to correct the wrongs done by him earlier. So while the municipal commissioner’s son is thirsting for the lawyer’s blood, the lawyer himself tries to prove, in the court of law, the late commissioner not guilty. Ultimately, the son and the lawyer join hands to eliminate the lawyer’s father-in-law and his evil friends.

The film has an unusual story coupled with incidents that’ve been seen earlier. But it must be said to director Raj Kanwar’s credit that his narration is fresh and the film’s tempo is so fast that it doesn’t give the audience a chance to think. It is because of this that several cinematic liberties are overlooked by the audience. The portion in which the lawyer loses his mental equilibrium is, however, a bit loose but the comedy scenes there save the film from falling too much.

The film has all the masala for every class of audience — there’s romance, sex, emotions, action, comedy and hit music. Further, all these ingredients are quite well balanced to make the film a truly enjoyable fare. Dialogues (Jainendra Jain) are very good at many places. Robin Bhatt and Akash Khurana’s screenplay is good.

Sanjay Dutt shines in action scenes and draws loud applause in several of them. His entry is superb. He acts quite well. Chandrachur Singh impresses a great deal in the first half and is fair after interval. Mahima Chaudhry is first-rate in a double role. She gets into the skin of both the characters and delivers a performance that’s remarkably brilliant. As the nautch girl, especially, she is superb, never once going overboard. Considering that this is only her second film, Mahima deserves to be applauded for such excellence. Her confrontation scene with Raj Babbar is clapworthy. Raj Babbar makes an effective villain. Mohan Joshi, Deepak Shirke and Harish Patel lend just  about average support as the other villains. Shakti Kapoor is so-so. Sushma Seth is lovable. Himani Shivpuri impresses in a brief role. Sachin Khedekar is very appealing. Shivaji Satam excels as the municipal commissioner. Neena Kulkarni is natural to the core. Vishwajeet Pradhan, Achyut Potdar and Arpita lend able support. Johny Lever and Kunika’s comedy is entertaining and provides wonderful relief.

Raj Kanwar’s direction is intelligent. Not only has he extracted excellent work from his main cast, he has also balanced the script ably and given plenty of masala to the audience. Rajesh Roshan’s music is hit. ‘Pyar humein pyar tum’, ‘Dil deewana’, ‘Dil dhadke’, ‘Pardesiya’ and ‘Lucky kabootar’ are all hit/above average numbers. Song picturisations are pretty lavish. Both, Chandrachur and Mahima, have danced gracefully. Editing is crisp. Sets (R. Verman) are eye-filling. Action (Bhiku Verma) is superb. Background score is very effective.

On the whole, Daag The Fire may have quite a few oft-repeated incidents but its music, performances, action and wonderful narration will see it fetch bountiful returns to its distributors and producers. Class A.

Released on 12-2-’99 at Eros and 17 other cinemas of Bombay by Inderjit Films Combine thru Shringar Films. Publicity: bumper (and very appropriate). Opening: very good. …….Also released all over. Opening outside Bombay was extraordinary.

BOMBAY BOYS
(Dubbed)

Film Works India’s Bombay Boys (A; dubbed from the English film of the same name) is the story of three guys who come to Bombay — one to become an actor, the second, to make it as a musician, and the third, to look for his lost brother. The film deals with their experiences in this crazy city. The drama is an exaggerated account of the happenings in the lives of the three guys. The story moves on three different tracks and skips between them at irregular intervals. The treatment is of the kind which would appeal to the class audience in big cities only. Obscenities are liberally thrown in and they could tickle the audience. The film is raw and that’s its biggest plus point. Comedy is subtle at times and hilarious at other times. The flavour of the film is totally ‘Bambaiya’.

Naveen Andrews is excellent. Rahul Bose, too, does a superb job. Alexander Gifford is quite nice. But Naseeruddin Shah takes the cake. As a film producer, he is splendid and immensely likeable. Tara Deshpande is natural to the core. Roshan Seth does fairly well. Other artistes lend good support.

Kaizad Gustad’s direction is excellent, given the theme he has selected. Music is appealing, again more for the Bombay audience. Camerawork is fantastic. Dubbing is very appropriate.

On the whole, Bombay Boys is good for Bombay, Maharashtra and Southwards mainly, but has dull chances in Northern and other parts of India.

Released on 12-2-’99 at Sundaram cinema of Bombay thru V.I.P. Enterprises. Publicity: so-so (for dubbed version). Opening: weak. …….Also released in Delhi-U.P. and Rajasthan.

LATEST POSITION

The bumper opening of DAAG THE FIRE this week has spread joy in the industry. Heavy rains in some parts of Maharashtra adversely affected the box-office.

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Aa Ab Laut Chalen picked up in Delhi after tax-exemption. It is good in Nizam. 3rd week Bombay 22,78,564 (64%) from 7 cinemas (5 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 2,46,691 from 4 cinemas, 1st week Patan 1,43,507, 3rd week Jamnagar 77,890, total 3,30,385; Pune 6,36,627 from 4 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 93,908; Delhi (tax-free from 8th Feb.) 18,40,558 from 6 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 1,11,681 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 2,02,229, Agra 85,250, Varanasi 81,676, Allahabad 68,600, Meerut 1,04,947, Dehradun 1,28,000, Hardwar 25,218; Calcutta (6 days) 4,15,709 from 5 cinemas; Nagpur 1,30,182 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur 82,280, total 2,04,446, Amravati 1,01,751, Raipur 89,049, Bhilai 36,063, Jalgaon 64,048, 1st week Chandrapur 1,50,170, 3rd Bilaspur 52,424; Indore 85,000 (1 on F.H.), 1st week Bhopal 1,21,000; 3rd week Jaipur 1,64,773, 2nd Bikaner 26,370; 3rd week Hyderabad (gross) 9,25,969 from 6 cinemas (2 in noon); 1st week Guntur (gross, 5 days) 95,866.

Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain is class A1 in Bombay and ranges from BB to A in other circuits except in Rajasthan where it is losing. 3rd week Bombay 36,36,373 (78.05%) from 10 cinemas (6 on F.H.); 1st week Vasai (gross) 3,08,329; 3rd week Ahmedabad 5,71,074 from 3 cinemas (1 unrecd.), Jamnagar 84,721, total 3,08,864; Pune 8,23,093 from 4 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 1,90,788; Belgaum 87,968; Delhi 19,25,519 from 7 cinemas; Kanpur 2,65,855 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 3,25,080, 2nd week Agra 2,10,000, 3rd Varanasi 1,14,776, Allahabad 1,12,216, Meerut 1,47,040, Dehradun 1,46,002, Hardwar 44,104, total 1,96,667; Calcutta (6 days) 6,37,611 from 5 cinemas; Nagpur 4,02,733 from 3 cinemas, Jabalpur 90,401, total 3,67,665, Amravati 1,40,290, Akola 1,05,577, total 3,87,440, Dhule 76,151, total 2,98,017, Bhilai 1,11,826, 1st week Jalgaon 1,60,047, 3rd week Gondia (gross) 74,240, Chandrapur 1,09,193, total 4,37,501, Bilaspur 1,07,015; Jaipur 2,25,152, Ajmer (gross) 1,03,984, 2nd week Bikaner 93,914; 3rd Hyderabad (gross) 6,79,357 from 4 cinemas (1 in noon).

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Tej Raftaar (dubbed) ran for 1 week at Dombivli (Bombay), now opened in city; doing well in Gujarat and Saurashtra; 1st week Dharwad 41,957; Delhi 2,77,435 (59.78%); Kanpur 71,953, Agra 1,02,000; Nagpur 1,05,972, 2nd week Amravati 38,328, 1st week Akola 1,32,850; 2nd week Indore 94,000; 1st week Jaipur 1,90,831.

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai 17th week Bombay 13,41,995 (43.59%) from 5 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 1,48,203 from 2 cinemas, Baroda 88,507, 3rd week Cambay 79,543, total 2,52,232, 1st week Deesa 82,602; 17th week Pune 5,57,508 from 4 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 33,553; Delhi 1,97,296 (2 on F.H.); Kanpur 1,28,125 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 2,25,455, Agra 38,872, Allahabad 34,800, Dehradun 45,436; Calcutta (6 days) 1,37,310; Nagpur 68,491, 4th week Kamptee 38,282, total 2,38,533, 12th week Jabalpur 97,137, total 21,17,289, 17th week Amravati (6 days) 49,355, Akola 49,105, total 17,14,827, 4th week Durg (5 days) 33,082, 5th week Balaghat 40,384, total 3,16,206; 17th week Indore (6 days) 55,000; Jaipur 4,02,677; Hyderabad (gross) 4,40,999 from 3 cinemas (1 in noon, 1 on F.H.).

‘AA AB LAUT CHALEN’ TAX-FREE IN DELHI

Rishi Kapoor’s Aa Ab Laut Chalen has been granted exemption from payment of entertainment tax in Delhi. The collections in the capital city have shown a marked improvement following the tax-free rates of admission.

NEW CINEMA OPENS AT ANAND

A new cinema, Shivalaya, opened at Anand (in Gujarat) on 12th February with Tej Raftaar (dubbed). Air-conditioned and equipped with Dolby Stereophonic sound system, the cinema has a seating capacity of 391.

YOU ASKED IT

What, according to you, contributed to the bumper opening of Daag The Fire this week?

– Excellent promotion, hit music and Sanjay Dutt. The last few films of Sanjay Dutt may not have worked but if you remember, even his DAUD had taken a very good start.

Will Kajol continue to act in films after becoming Mrs. Devgan?

– Kajol is definitely committed to doing Rahul Rawail’s film. It will start some time in April.

Will Sarfarosh definitely be released in April? Any under-production reports?

– SARFAROSH is being readied for April release. John Mathew Mathan, an ad filmmaker of Bombay (not Delhi, as mentioned in an item in the 3-E column in our issue last week) has made a very good film, insiders say.

DO YOU KNOW?

* This is a strange coincidence. The Tamil film, UNNIDATHIL YENNAI KODUTHTHEN, was directed by Vikraman. And now its Hindi remake will be directed by Vikram Bhatt.

* For the first time in the history of Punjabi films, as many as 14 prints of a film — Manjit Maan’s SHAHEED-E-MOHABBAT BOOTA SINGH — have been released this week in Overseas (by Jupiter Enterprises). The film is doing very well in Punjab.

* The Gujarat-Surashtra distributor of TEJ RAFTAAR has been adding a fresh print every week. He started out with 7 prints, had 8 in the second week, 9 in the third week, and 10 in the fourth week. A rise every week with tej raftaar!

* Chandan cinema, Juhu, Bombay, has become the first cinema in India to install a 3-way Dolby digital sound system. It has been fully renovated and now has plush cushioned seats.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

‘Kachche Dhaage’, Pucca Record

Ajay Devgan’s distribution office in Bombay has plans to release Kachche Dhaage next week in a total of 101 cinemas simultaneously in the entire circuit. If the target is met — and it seems very likely that it will be — this would be the highest number of cinemas in which a film is released in the first week. Incidentally, Ajay Devgan has his hands full for 1999, as distributor. Besides Kachche Dhaage, he will be releasing Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, his own Dil Kya Kare, Nitin Manmohan’s Chal Mere Bhai and Aankh Micholee and J.P. Dutta’s Refugee.

Lucknow Exhibitors Trying Luck Now In Distribution

Two big-time exhibitors of U.P. have become distributors and have jointly acquired two big films for Delhi-U.P. The two exhibitors are Ajay Gupta of Novelty cinema, Lucknow, and Vijay Kumar Sahu of Sahu cinema, Lucknow. They’ve purchased the distribution rights of Venus’ Shah Rukh starrers, Badshah and Josh, in their partnership concern, A.V. Films Combine. Let’s hope, these two exhibitors of Lucknow prove lucky now in distribution too.

‘Daag’: A 100% Spotless Record

With Raj Kanwar’s Daag The Fire having opened to full and over-capacity houses this week and the reports also being extremely encouraging, the title Daag has proved to be lucky for the third time. The first time a film of this title was made was in 1952. Directed by Amiya Chakraborty, the B & W Daag starred Dilip Kumar, Usha Kiran and Nimmi. Like its music (Shankar Jaikishen), the film, too, was a runaway hit. The second Daag (in colour) was made in 1973 by Yash Chopra. It too proved to be a blockbuster. This one starred Rajesh Khanna, Sharmila Tagore and Raakhee, and had hit music by Laxmikant Pyarelal. While the earlier two Daags had two heroines each, the new Daag has one heroine (Mahima Chaudhry) but in a double role; heroes are two — Sanjay Dutt and Chandrachur Singh.

PRODUCTION NEWS

‘Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai’ Marches Ahead

Producer-director Rakesh Roshan commenced a further 19-day shooting schedule of Film Kraft’s Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai on Jan. 30 in and around Bombay locales. Climax and other scenes are being picturised featuring the entire cast comprising Hrithik Roshan, Amisha Patel, Anupam Kher, Ashish Vidyarthi, Dalip Tahhil, Mohnish Bahl, Rajesh Tandon, Payal Malhotra, Farida Jalal, Vrajesh Hirjee, Satish Shah and master Abhishek alongwith stuntmen. Based on a story and screenplay by Ravi Kapoor and Honey Irani, the film has dialogues by Sagar Sarhadi, music by Rajesh Roshan, lyrics by Saawan Kumar and Ibrahim Ashq, cinematography by Kabir Lal, action by Tinnu Verma, sound by Navin Zaveri, editing by Sanjay Verma and dances by Farah Khan.

LATEST POSITION

Cricket matches and extreme cold in various parts of the country took their toll on the box-office.

Khooni Aahat (dubbed) 1st week Hyderabad 3,61,884 (gross) from 3 cinemas.

Aa Ab Laut Chalen dropped at many places. Is good in Nizam. 2nd week Bombay 33,36,466 (71.79%) from 9 cinemas (6 on F.H.); Jamnagar 1,11,182; Pune 5,69,442 from 4 cinemas (1 in matinee), Kolhapur 96,961, Solapur 1,09,043; Hubli 1,46,387; Delhi 20,50,836 from 9 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 1,46,423 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 2,35,646 (1st 3,76,962), Agra 1,45,242, Varanasi 1,07,832, Allahabad 90,000, Meerut 1,51,479, Bareilly 83,774, Hardwar 35,412; Calcutta 7,45,097 from 8 cinemas; Nagpur 1,88,846 from 3 cinemas, 1st week Jabalpur 1,22,166, 2nd week Amravati 1,21,903, Raipur 1,07,326, Bhilai 43,014, Jalgaon 1,06,868; Indore 95,000 (1 on F.H.); Jaipur 1,99,700, Bikaner 85,153; Hyderabad 7,93,619 (gross) from 4 cinemas (1 in noon).

Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain is excellent in Bombay and good in other places but has dropped in U.P. and continues to be dull in Rajasthan. 2nd week Bombay 44,62,979 (85.69%) from 11 cinemas (6 on F.H.); Rajkot 1,46,580, Jamnagar 98,200; Pune 10,06,710 from 4 cinemas (1 in matinee), Kolhapur 1,98,321, Solapur 2,05,067; Belgaum 1,09,347; Delhi 29,71,299 from 9 cinemas; Kanpur 3,32,875 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 3,57,975 (1st 4,91,849), 1st week Agra 3,15,000, 2nd week Varanasi 1,66,729, Bhadohi 30,652, Allahabad 1,22,781, Meerut 1,92,714, Bareilly 81,619, Hardwar 55,030; Calcutta 10,59,906 from 8 cinemas (other cinemas on F.H.); Nagpur 5,19,975 from 3 cinemas, Jabalpur 1,10,829, total 2,77,264, Amravati 1,53,192, Akola 1,22,824 (1st 1,61,538), Dhule 91,267, Raipur 1,45,025, Bhilai 1,30,608, Gondia (gross) 96,738, Chandrapur 1,52,432 (1st 1,75,875), Yavatmal 72,504 (1st 1,00,066), Bilaspur 1,25,000; Bhopal 1,39,691 (1st 1,60,000); Jaipur 2,64,868, 1st week Bikaner 1,26,076; 2nd week Hyderabad 7,13,045 (gross) from 4 cinemas (1 in noon).

Hu Tu Tu is dull except in Bombay. 2nd week Bombay 15,96,935 (82%) from 4 cinemas (7 on F.H.); Pune 3,72,513 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Delhi 9,18,241 from 5 cinemas; Kanpur 72,719, Lucknow 1,79,846 (1st 3,75,962), Varanasi 76,926, Allahabad 67,000, Bareilly 26,404; Calcutta 2,05,897; Nagpur 92,680 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur 49,731, total 1,74,385, Amravati 54,278, Akola 58,200 (1st 1,55,000), Raipur 46,713, Bhilai 35,288, Jalgaon 70,000, Chandrapur 1,06,703; Indore 87,106 (1 on F.H.); Jaipur 1,16,868, Jodhpur 85,000; Hyderabad 1,66,808 (gross).

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EMBARGO ON RELEASE OF DUBBED HOLLYWOOD FILMS IN BOMBAY

Dubbed Hindi versions of Hollywood films have been boycotted by exhibitors of Bombay from this week as a result of a decision to this effect taken by the Cinematograph Exhibitors’ Association of India (CEAI) and the Theatre Owners’ Association (TOA). The Indian Motion Picture Distributors’ Association (IMPDA) has also reportedly seconded the decision of the exhibitors’ associations.

Following the boycott, the release of Khooni Aahat, the dubbed Hindi version of Urban Legend, in Bombay city on 5th February was cancelled. Tej Raftaar, released two weeks back in Maharashtra, was the last dubbed Hollywood film to have opened in Bombay prior to the boycott decision. Tej Raftaar opened at Dombivli, a distant Bombay suburb on 5th.

Excessive sex, violence and obscenity passed by the CBFC in dubbed Hollywood films is the main bone of contention, which has prompted exhibitors of Hindi films to support the boycott call. It is being increasingly felt that the audience of Hindi films was being corrupted by seeing dubbed foreign films replete with sex and violence, a trend that may prove dangerous for the Hindi film industry in the long run. Exhibitors and distributors of Hindi films also felt that business of repeat-run films was being severely and adversely affected because of so many dubbed foreign films in the market.

The foreign film companies, which usually release such films, will meet representatives of exhibitors and distributors on Monday, February 8, to discuss the matter which could have far-reaching consequences and implications.

ANIL, DAVID DHAWAN BEREAVED

Rani Dhawan, mother of actor Anil Dhawan and director David Dhawan, expired on 29th January in Delhi due to a heart attack. She was 75 and is survived by three sons. She had not been keeping gold health since some time.

YOU ASKED IT

What should actors like Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty and Akshaye Khanna do to give a boost to their careers?

– Take the help of a level-headed script consultant before signing a film. For, they need to look before they leap — hear the script and be convinced about its box-office potential before signing on the dotted line.

Among the forthcoming releases, which do you think will take a flying start?

– JAANAM SAMJHA KARO should take a bumper start on the strength of its music and Salman Khan. Its promotional trailers on television are being loved by youngsters. KACHCHE DHAAGE is also slowly but surely gaining heat.

Is it true that Soldier is doing better than Kuch Kuch Hota Hai in small centres?

– Yes, it is 100% true. While SOLDIER is getting better terms in ‘B’ and ‘C’ class centres, KKHH is miles ahead in ‘A’ class centres in most of the circuits.

CENSOR NEWS

Inderjit Films Combine’s Daag – The Fire was given C.C. No. CIL/3/2/99 (A) dt. 1-2-’99; length 4416.93 metres in 18 reels (cuts: 37.80 metres).

Film Works India’s Bombay Boys (dubbed) was given C.C. No. CIL/3/4/99 (A); dt. 5-2-’99; length 2860.27 metres in 5 reels (few deletions in sound only).

Chaudhry Enterprises’ Zulmi has been offered A certificate, with cuts.

Tips Films P. Ltd.’s Kachche Dhaage (length 4370.22 metres in 18 reels), applied on 2nd and seen on 4th, has been okayed for UA certificate, with cuts.

Kshitij Production Combines’ Kaun (length 2798.06 metres in 10 reels), applied on 2nd, was seen on 3rd.

Pawan Putra Films’ Aadhi Raat (length 3018.30 metres in 14 reels), applied on 2nd, was seen on 3rd.

Lama Productions’ Laawaris (length 4602.08 metres in 17 reels) was applied on 5th.

DO YOU KNOW?

* Writer Neeraj Pathak may have co-written Subhash Ghai’s PARDES and written hundreds of episodes of various TV serials but what he is ultimately looking for is directing films. He already has a couple of completely bound scripts ready, with dialogues too. He is currently writing K.P. Singh’s HUM TO MOHABBAT KAREGA, directed by Kundan Shah.

* After being dubbed in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam, B.R. Chopra’s TV serial, MAHABHARAT, is now being dubbed in Bhojpuri (for telecast on Lucknow Doordarshan), Marathi (Bombay DD) and Bengali (satellite channel). It has been dubbed in Persian language too, and the Persian version was telecast in Iran. The serial has been telecast in many countries including on BBC-London.

* Raj Kanwar picturised the additional song for his DAAG – THE FIRE in three nights last week. It was censored soon thereafter and is already on air on satellite channels. Theatrical trailers of the song are also being screened in cinemas all over India. The song — Mera lucky kabootar — is based on a Punjabi folk number and has been picturised on Sanjay Dutt, models and dancers.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Pakistan As Part Of Overseas Territory

With relations between India and Pakistan seemingly improving, it may be premature but, nevertheless, not incorrect to dream about a day in the near future when Indian films will be permitted entry in the neighbouring country. If that happens, it will be heavenly for producers and Overseas distributors. It is a well-known fact that Indian films are loved by Pakistanis, and the opening of cultural exchanges and trade between the two countries would see prices for Overseas rights of films shooting up. Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif just recently told an Indian national daily that he would soon invite Lata Mangeshkar to visit his country and also perform there. He lamented the loss of great playback singers of India, like Mukesh, Mohd. Rafi and Talat Mahmood. It may be mentioned here that Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has made the first move towards burying the past and extending a hand of friendship by announcing that he would travel by bus to Pakistan next month. A bus service has for the first time commenced between the two countries.

Gujarat Beckons

The Gujarat government, after the recent shooting of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam in the Kutch region, is keen that more and more films are shot in the state. The obvious objective is to promote tourism in the state. J.P. Dutta, too, recently shot his Refugee extensively in Bhuj. The good news is that the Gujarat government is also offering attractive packages to lure producers to shoot in the state. Maybe, some producers would like to try it out.

Dubbed Versions

Santosh Sivan’s internationally acclaimed Tamil film, The Terrorist, has not yet been released theatrically in Tamilnadu, but the awards it has picked up abroad as well as in India have inspired Sivan to dub the film. And dub it not just in Hindi but in English too. The two dubbed versions have been acquired for all India by UTV Motion Pictures and Shringar Films jointly.

Unusual Indeed

John Mathew Mathan, an ad filmmaker of Delhi, whose first feature film as producer and director — Sarfarosh — is complete, has fixed its release date as 23rd/30th April. He has also told his distributors, they would be shown the film well in advance of the release date. Quite in contrast to the current trend among producers to not show the film to their distributors even a week before its release!

This Is Simply Not Done!

The telephonic threats by Pravin Shah and Pradeep Singh, producer and Thane sub-distributor respectively of HU TU TU, to Komal Nahta, editor of Film Information, earlier this week, sent shock waves in the Bombay film industry. Industry leaders and top producers, distributors, exhibitors, artistes and technicians of Bollywood have expressed disgust over the incident and have promised support to your editor.

Pradeep Singh telephoned Komal on 26th January at the latter’s residence and threatened him of dire consequences for having written an “unfavourable review” of HU TU TU in Film Information issue dated 23rd January, 1999. This was followed by telephone calls from Pravin Shah who threatened to eliminate Komal for the negative review.

Komal Nahta lodged an N.C. complaint (no. 234 dated 26-1-’99) with the Khar police station and also met the additional commissioner of police, Mr. Rakesh Maria, who promised to look into the matter and assured him of his safety. But in the meantime, Komal’s mother panicked so much that she had to be hospitalised (at Leelavati Hospital) for highly fluctuating blood pressure. She was in hospital for three days and was discharged on 29th.

It would be pertinent to point out here that HU TU TU has done well only in Bombay and parts of Maharashtra (as predicted by us in our review) but has failed miserably in the other circuits. It had to be discontinued from Ramachandra cinema of Hyderabad (an ‘A’ class centre of Nizam) after just 5 days due to lack of audience (5 days’ collection was a paltry 48,359/-). In Jodhpur (an ‘A’ class centre of Rajasthan), the collections of the film at Kohinoor dropped like mercury in a thermometre kept in a refrigerator. Collections of other centres (printed elsewhere in this issue) are proof of how the film has fared in the whole country. But that is not the issue here.

The question which arises in that even if the film had hit the bull’s eye, were such ghastly threats in order? Rightly has the shameful incident been condemned with indignation by one and all in the industry. The incident assumes even more significance because it landed a lady, completely unconnected with the episode, in hospital in a traumatised state.

Does anyone in a free country have the right to play with another’s life so callously? It’s really shameful — much more shameful than the box-office figures of HU TU TU.

LATEST POSITION

Extreme cold in various parts of the country has affected collections in the night shows. At places, the night shows record 10-15% collections only.

Aa Ab Laut Chalen could not pick up much and remained steady at medium collections at many centres; it, however, dropped at some places. Is dull in East Punjab and Rajasthan. 1st week Bombay 42,92,860 (86.22%) from 9 cinemas (5 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 10,60,166 from 6 cinemas, Padra 1,94,988, Rajkot 1,31,400, Jamnagar 1,41,713, Adipur 1,19,650 (73.73%); Pune 7,28,357 from 4 cinemas (1 in matinee), Kolhapur 1,47,633, Solapur 2,33,901 from 2 cinemas; Hubli 1,89,988 (100%), Belgaum 1,62,505 (100%); Delhi 33,95,177 (77.90%) from 9 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 3,26,569 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 3,76,520, Agra 2,97,282, Varanasi 4,14,410 from 2 cinemas, Allahabad 2,44,578, Meerut 2,64,900, Bareilly 1,71,597 (76.75%), Hardwar 44,622; Calcutta 12,55,314 from 10 cinemas; Nagpur 2,51,381 from 3 cinemas, Amravati 1,49,510, Raipur 1,49,951, Bhilai 1,41,570 from 2 cinemas, Jalgaon 1,40,049, Bilaspur 1,00,345; Indore 1,38,640 (3 on F.H.), Bhopal 2,76,608 from 2 cinemas; Jaipur 4,42,796 from 2 cinemas; Hyderabad 28,28,501 from 12 cinemas, share about 14,00,000.

Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain picked up in several centres due to ladies’ patronage. It has done excellent in Bombay and is good in Delhi-U.P., West Bengal, C.P.C.I. and Nizam but dull in Rajasthan. 1st week Bombay 45,32,854 (94.77%) from 8 cinemas (9 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 8,30,821 from 3 cinemas (1 unrecd.), Valsad 2,10,332 (81.75%), Rajkot 1,89,960 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Jamnagar 1,25,943; Pune 13,02,746 from 5 cinemas (1 in matinee), Kolhapur 2,99,203, Solapur 2,19,217 (98%); Belgaum 1,27,890; Delhi 36,20,660 (85.16%) from 8 cinemas; Kanpur 4,97,480 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 4,91,849, Varanasi 2,26,939, Allahabad 1,83,430, Meerut 2,57,764, Bareilly 1,68,495 (55.60%), Hardwar 90,000; Calcutta 26,52,155 from 14 cinemas; Nagpur 5,83,275 from 3 cinemas, Jabalpur 1,70,435, Amravati 1,67,715, Dhule 1,30,609, Raipur 1,71,879, Bhilai 1,46,770, Gondia (gross) 1,20,631, Chandrapur 1,75,875, Yavatmal 1,00,065, Bilaspur 1,82,556; Bhopal 1,36,320 (1 on F.H.); Jaipur 7,09,544 from 4 cinemas; Hyderabad 14,95,762 from 7 cinemas (1 in noon).

Hu Tu Tu has done well in Bombay and parts of Maharashtra but dropped badly in the other places from 3rd/4th day onwards. It will entail heavy losses to almost all its distributors. 1st week Bombay 22,71,641 (93.82%) from 4 cinemas (8 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 3,30,975 from 2 cinemas, Rajkot 1,16,511, Jamnagar (matinee) 15,328; Pune 5,19,199 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur (matinee) 72,470; Delhi 15,65,422 (56.64%) from 4 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 1,91,000, Lucknow 3,75,962, Allahabad 1,24,000, Bareilly 94,904 (33.45%); Calcutta 12,08,877 from 8 cinemas; Nagpur 5,32,818 from 3 cinemas, Jabalpur 1,24,654, Amravati 1,75,164, Raipur 1,31,010, Jalgaon 1,32,397; Indore 1,65,159 (1 on F.H.), Bhopal 1,30,629; Jaipur 2,13,880; Hyderabad 12,88,764 from 7 cinemas (1 in noon).

Bade Dilwala is poor. 1st week Bombay 22,12,618 (49.09%) from 11 cinemas (7 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 2,40,567 from 4 cinemas, Bhuj 45,000; Pune 4,45,770 from 6 cinemas (1 in matinee); Delhi 14,52,907 (27.82%) from 10 cinemas (3 on F.H.); Kanpur 1,64,759 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 1,37,179, Varanasi 98,984, Allahabad 1,13,000, Meerut 1,17,513; Calcutta 3,05,552 from 3 cinemas; Nagpur 1,03,988 from 2 cinemas, Bhilai 24,084, Jalgaon 68,489; Indore 76,737 (1 on F.H.), Bhopal 73,591; Jodhpur 1,50,000.

Tej Raftaar (dubbed) has done well despite the opposition of so many new releases simultaneously. 1st week Ahmedabad 1,20,507 (70%), Surat 1,30,929 (69%), Baroda 1,13,627 (78%), Rajkot 1,38,848 (65%); Pune 47,854 (19%), Kolhapur 83,587 (45%), Solapur 1,18,741 (79%), Nasik 43,537 (20%), Sangli 88,987 (37%), Ichalkaranji 77,147 (46%), Malegaon 1,20,075 (45%); Belgaum 85,756 (81%); Hyderabad 2,38,893 (98%).

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai 15th week Bombay 23,25,892 (71.35%) from 8 cinemas  (5 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 3,80,835 from 4 cinemas, 2nd week Himmatnagar 1,24,210 (1st 1,27,325), 15th week Baroda 1,39,724; Pune 5,77,995 from 3 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur (matinee) 38,913; Delhi 4,72,397 from 2 cinemas (3 on F.H.); Kanpur 2,50,249 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 3,80,146, Agra 1,03,000, Varanasi 1,65,411, Allahabad 72,339; Calcutta 5,71,169 from 3 cinemas; Nagpur 1,06,970, 2nd week Kamptee 75,804 (1st 71,315), 10th week Jabalpur 1,61,848 (9th 1,58,369), total 19,12,562, 13th week Amravati (6 days) 76,570, 2nd week (6 days) Durg (gross) 63,678, 15th week Bilaspur 25,000, 3rd week Balaghat 66,090, total 2,27,482; 15th week Indore 89,224; Jaipur 4,61,496, Ajmer 43,581; Hyderabad 4,67,217 from 2 cinemas (1 in noon); Vijayawada 6 weeks’ total 4,25,146.

…………..

YOU ASKED IT

What is the final tally of China Gate?

– It will fetch commission in a few circuits. In the rest, it will entail losses to distributors.

When so many English films are being dubbed in Hindi, why is Shekhar Kapur’s Elizabeth not being dubbed?

– You never know, someone just might dub it in Hind. But one wonders whether it will have the same appeal as in English.

How much would an ‘A’ grade project’s music rights fetch today?

– The audio rights may fetch the price of a major circuit.

MIX MASALA

UNIQUE WEDDING INVITATIONS

That a wedding in the family of leading film financier Bharat Shah would be an ultra-grand affair has now come to be accepted as a custom. The wedding cards are always as rich and tasteful as the string of functions preceding the wedding reception and the reception itself. And the invitation card for the marriage of Sweta, daughter of Vijay Shah and niece of Bharatbhai, with Bhavin, on 6th and 7th February in Bombay, is simply breathtaking. It is in the shape of a book which has been explained to be a Bhrigu Samhita — an ancient Indian text which is believed to contain the life histories of everybody. The pages of the heavily decorated book, printed on imported paper, contain the details of the marriage ceremony and other programmes. The invitation book, it may be added here, has been sent out in huge and stylish boxes.

HERE & THERE

Republic Day Honours For Ashok Kumar, Lata, Javed

Melody queen Lata Mangeshkar was among the 14 distinguished people of the country chosen for the Padma Vibhushan award on the occasion of Republic Day this year. This is the country’s second highest civilian award. Veteran Ashok Kumar has been honoured with Padma Bhushan. The two film personalities awarded Padma Shri are lyricist Javed Akhtar and character actress Sulochana. The awards were announced by president K.R. Narayanan.

All the winners, obviously, feel honoured. Lata expressed her gratitude to the government. Javed Akhtar said that the honour had reminded him of his social responsibilities as a writer and poet and he would try to fulfil them. Veteran actress Sulochana thanked her teachers, parents and all her fans whose blessings had given her the will power to achieve this success.

Mahajan Assures Immediate Action To Solve FTII Problems

I & B minister Pramod Mahajan, who is taking a keen interest in promoting the film industry and solving its problems, visited the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, on 18th January to have first-hand information on its problems. The tussle between the students and the director of the institute, Dr. Mohan Agashe, has been on for a long time, as the new members of the governing council of the Institute have not yet been appointed by the government. The governing council is to take the final decision in the matter of the revised syllabus suggested by Dr. Agashe. At present, nothing seems to be moving on the FTII front. The government is giving a thought to privatising the Institute to make it a profit-making centre by opening its doors for producers to shoot their films there. Mahajan, after his visit to the Institute, assured the staff and students that he would take an immediate decision to chart out the future course of the FTII, which has 200 staffers working full-time.

Asha Bhosle Pained At Today’s Soulless Songs

Asha Bhosle, who is in Delhi to participate in a musical nite today (30th January), while talking to the press, opined that the passing away of the great music directors and poet-lyricists was one of the primary reasons behind the absence of melody in today’s film songs. She also found fault with the audience, saying that public demand compelled lyricists and musicians to churn out soulless songs. “Let the public reject it and melody would return,” she said. Asha, who has earned a place for herself in the world of pop music too, said that pop music was nothing but popular music, and she sang only those songs which had scope for melody and popular appeal. She said that the younger generation preferred fast music but their singing in various TV musical programmes provided ample proof of the timelessness of old film songs which were melodious.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Too Disturbing?

Many among the audience have found the scene of Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain in which Kajol, in an advanced state of pregnancy, falls flat on her stomach, too disturbing to bear. But exhibitor Ravi Machhar has not just heard this complaint, he has had the staff of his Abhinay cinema in Aurangabad administer first aid to a couple of ladies who fainted in the auditorium while seeing the scene in different shows in the first week. While this is definitely not a good thing to have happened, it, nevertheless, speaks volumes for Kajol’s acting prowess.

The Showman And His Staff

The party which Subhash Ghai’s staff hosted at his Audeus studio on 23rd January to bring in his birthday on 24th was a well-organised and homely affair. It was a surprise party for Ghai who remarked, “Look, I’m not even dressed up for the occasion.” But the party also had surprises in store for the select invitees. For, Anand Bakshi rendered a lovely song which he has written for a film to be made by Zee and directed by Anil Sharma. Playback singer Sukhwinder also regaled the gathering with his songs. Anil Kapoor, Akshaye Khanna, Aishwarya Rai and Alok Nath were the four As who added glamour to the party which went on till the wee hours of the morning. And although there was a lot of merry-making, drinks and dinner, what was the best part of the party came towards the end when the amiable Ghai danced with his office boys, making each one feel so special that day. His wife was happy playing the hostess but when it came to speaking a few words on the mike, the elegant lady only blushed and was heard sweetly whispering into hubby’s ear, “Main kya boloon?” (“What do I say?”).

AA AB LAUT CHALEN

R.K. Films & Studios’ Aa Ab Laut Chalen is a love story of two Indians who meet in America. The film also seeks to tackle the problem of brain drain and gives a healthy message to the youth of today. There’s one more track — that of the hero and his father. The hero and his family in India are under the impression that the father was killed in an accident but the truth is that he had survived the accident and had seized the opportunity to flee to America where he got married again and became a multi-millionaire.

The story is about an ambitious boy who leaves India and comes to America to earn a lot of money. He meets an Indian girl there and she immediately falls in love with him. But the boy tries to hook a rich NRI girl so that he can settle there and fulfil his ambition of amassing wealth. After some time, he realises his folly and goes back to the Indian girl. By chance, he meets his father in America and, after an emotional drama, they all return to India.

The film is a visual delight and is almost like a trip to America. It offers breathtaking foreign locales captured beautifully. But its content, unfortunately, is not as exciting as the gloss. The reasons for this are several — one, the script has some inherent flaws/drawbacks (example: the hero hooks the NRI girl even though he is aware that she smokes, drinks and moves around with guys. Although she picks up no new vice, the hero, after some days, fires her for her behaviour and expresses shock over the same. The audience wonders why the hero got into the relationship in the first place if he had to be shocked a couple of reels later.); secondly, too much has been squeezed into a 3-hour drama; thirdly, the screenplay writer has taken recourse to convenience more than common sense to further the drama on occasions; fourthly, since the misery of the family sans the father is not shown, the impact of the emotional climax is diluted; fifthly, the hero’s character is not what it should be (he comes to America because his friend tells him so; he tries to hook an Indian settled in America because another friend tells him so — why doesn’t he use his brains?). Further, there is not much romance in the romantic story! This is not to say that the film has no plus points. It does have several of them. Besides the eye-pleasing locations, its other winning points are: some good comedy (of Jaspal Bhatti), a couple of heartwarming scenes, Rajesh Khanna’s entry and performance, liberal body exposure by Suman Ranganathan, and the mini-India shown in America.

Akshaye Khanna does a fair job. He has not been photographed well in some scenes. He dances extremely gracefully. Aishwarya Rai is plastic at times and wooden at other times. But she looks very pretty. The girl should stop behaving as if she were a kid and should open her mouth fully while talking. Rajesh Khanna acts very well and is restrained. But care should have been taken of his appearance; he looks red. Suman Ranganathan exudes oomph and sex appeal and impresses with a free performance. Kader Khan is quite good. Jaspal Bhatti is cute. Satish Kaushik is not very funny except in one scene. Himani Shipvpuri has been wasted. Viveck Vaswani is alright. Alok Nath leaves a mark in a brief role. Moushumi Chatterjee is restrained and very effective. Paresh Rawal is superb and goes through his role with aplomb. Newcomer Aditya Hitkari does reasonably well. Jatin Sial is okay. Navin Nischol, Sulbha Arya, Achyut Potdar and Vishwajeet Pradhan lend fair support.

In his maiden directorial venture, Rishi Kapoor shows that he has an excellent sense of visuals. But his script sense leaves something to be desired. His direction, though, is smooth. Music does not befit the canvas of the film. ‘Otashi Anata’, ‘Mera dil tera deewana’, the title song and ‘O yaaron maaf karna’ are well-tuned but the lack of super-hit songs is sorely felt. Song picturisations are colourful and eye-filling. Production values are grand. Editing could have been a bit more crisp.

On the whole, Aa Ab Laut Chalen will have to depend upon its visual beauty and the clear field ahead (few major releases in the forthcoming weeks) more than its content to lure the audience (mainly class audience and youth) to cinemas. Its business will vary from circuit to circuit. It may sail safe in some circuits (like Delhi-U.P.) on the strength of business in cities.

Released on 20-1-’99 at Minerva and 2 other cinemas and on 22-1-’99 at 11 more cinemas of Bombay thru V.I.P. Enterprises. Publicity: excellent. Opening: very good. …….Also released all over. Opening was fair in some circuits but poor in others. (1st day Jaipur 79,074/- (50.56%) from 2 cinemas.)

HUM AAPKE DIL MEIN REHTE HAIN

Suresh Productions’ Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain is an unusual story about a boy entering into a one-year contract of marriage with a girl. At the end of the contract period, he decides to call it quits with the girl, although he likes her and finds her excelling in all household work. The reason for his separation is that she is not his idea of a wife. But once the separation comes around, the guy starts missing her and, slowly but surely, realises that she was, in fact, the perfect wife for him. He apologises to her but, having been humiliated by society, she is reluctant to forgive him and go back to him. Not the one to give up easily, he tries to woo her in every possible way. Ultimately, after a game of insults and counter-insults and also a good deal of melodrama, the girl realises her mistake in not overlooking her husband’s mistake. The two are then united.

The best part of the film is the novelty of its subject. Although the point of contract marriage may sound improbable (like the point of the wife selling her husband in Judaai), it is presented in a believable manner and so smoothy (again as in Judaai) that once the contract marriage is solemnised, the viewer doesn’t really mind its improbability. Yes, the reason for the hero agreeing to a contract marriage may be flimsy but that’s not the issue. Secondly, the reluctance of the wife to forgive her husband may look a bit too stretched in the post-interval portion but again, that may make the film seem a bit long but it cannot rob it of its intrinsic worth. The wife’s reluctance, however, could have been made more appealing had the director shown her humiliation in society not once but at least three or four times differently.

If the story is novel, the screenplay is quite consistently well-written. Dialogues (Jainendra Jain) are excellent at several places. Emotions touch the heart at times. Climax should have been more effective.

Anil Kapoor underplays his character beautifully and shines in a film that otherwise belongs to the heroine. His casual handling of the issue of contract marriage makes it pretty believable. He is excellent in the gode bharayee scene. Kajol is extraordinary and lives her role. Before marriage, as the sole bread-winner of a family of five, after marriage, as the caring wife and daughter-in-law, and after separation, as the unrelenting bold lady, she does it all with such sincerity that the viewer falls in love with her. Kajol is so natural that one’s heart goes out to her. Her emotional scene, in which she announces that the entire family would commit suicide together, shakes one to tears as much for its starkness as for the girl’s brilliant performance. Her fiery and emotional outburst against her family members in the second half is also excellent. She also looks pretty. Anupam Kher is good. Johny Lever, Satish Kaushik and Rakesh Bedi evoke laughter with their hilarious comedy. But it must be said here that their comedy track has no relation to the film’s subject. Besides, it gets repetitive after a while. Parmeet Sethi leaves a mark. Shakti Kapoor is wasted. Sudha Chandran, Smita Jayakar, Rajoo Shreshtha, Gracy Singh, Adi Irani, Mink, Sadhu Meher and Dinesh Hingoo lend admirable support.

Satish Kaushik’s direction deserves praise. His narration is smooth and the tense drama and comedy portions have been well-balanced. Anu Malik’s music is melodious but one misses the title song in the film (it comes in bits and parts and, therefore, loses in impact). Another good song, ‘Yehi mera dil hai’, will be added a couple of weeks later. ‘Chhup gaya badli mein chaand’ is appealing. The ‘Dil hai Hindustani’ number is weak. Song picturisations should have been better. Kabir Lal’s camerawork is marvellous. Other technical and production values are of standard.

On the whole, Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain may be a slow starter (except in Bombay where it has opened to excellent houses) but it has the germs to pick up by word of mouth and on the strength of ladies and family audience. It has chances of proving class A.

Released on 22-1-’99 at Novelty, New Empire and 15 other cinemas of Bombay by Vimal Agarwal thru R.M. Ahuja & Co. Publicity & opening: excellent. …….Also released all over. Opening was ordinary in some circuits, dull in some and fairly good in others. (1st day Amravati 5 shows 23,800/-, 2nd day 4 shows 22,803/-; 1st day Jabalpur 5 shows 19,000/-, 2nd day 4 shows 18,200/-; 1st day Raipur 5 shows 22,000/-, 2nd day 4 shows 21,600/-; 1st day Bhilai 5 shows 14,306/-, 2nd day 4 shows 14,635/-; 1st day Chandrapur 5 shows 22,000/-, 2nd day 4 shows 20,700/-; 1st day Bilaspur 5 shows 30,500/-, 2nd day 4 shows 26,300/-; 2 days Indore 1,62,460/- from 4 cinemas; 1st day Jaipur 1,26,155/- (51.32%) from 4 cinemas.)

HU TU TU

Time Films International’s Hu Tu Tu (A) is a comment on political dramas being enacted today. It is about the power games played by politicians to further their personal interests which, almost always, are at variance with the interests of the nation. The daughter of a lady politician and the son of a super-rich industrialist fall in love with each other but before they can get married, are separated in a serious accident. Both of them, even when they are together, are disillusioned by the political games and disturbed by the plight of the common man. After the accident, the boy joins a terrorist group to seek justice from the evil politicians and, in one such attempt, has his ex-beloved kidnapped to settle scores with her mother. Ultimately, the two lovers get even with their mother (girl’s) and father (boy’s) who, in the meantime, have joined forces to take care of their personal gains. There is also a commoner Dalit leader who entertains his brethren with his witty and caustic comments while fighting for their rights too.

The subject is unusual but its treatment is so abstract that the narration bores the viewer no end. Continuity has not been cared for and the drama looks incomplete as the reasons for the behaviour of some characters at times are left to the intelligence of the viewer. A lot of the script is in the director’s mind but it never really comes out on the screen. The pace is so slow that viewing the film becomes a tedious and boring exercise. One actually wonders whether the director has made the film as an exercise in entertainment or in trying the audience’s patience. Frankly, not many among the audience would have the patience to see such a slow-moving film. Few among those who have the patience may have the inclination to go through the drama devoid of entertainment and full of tension.

Dialogues are very good at many places. But the Maharashtrian flavour and the Marathi language, used at several places in the film, further limits its appeal. Even the tunes of some songs have a predominantly Maharashtrian flavour. Climax, though predictable, is quite good.

Nana Patekar does well as the Dalit leader. Sunil Shetty is very effective and restrained in his performance that offers no scope for action which is his forte. Tabu is simply splendid. She lives the character she plays and comes up with a performance that’s heartwarmingly natural. In fact, Tabu’s award-winning performance is the best thing in the film. Suhasini Mulay is very natural as also effective. Dr. Mohan Agashe is fair. Kulbhushan Kharbanda does a capable job. Shivaji Satam leaves a mark. Raj Zutshi, Ajit Vachani and the others lend adequate support.

Director Gulzar seems to be under the mistaken impression that the public has plenty of patience and all the time in the world. Although his handling of the complex subject is very good, he adopts such an abstract style of narration that the film ultimately turns out to be a commentary for a very select elite audience. Its slow pace is unpardonable. Vishal’s music is good. ‘Chhai chhappa chhai’, ‘Gaphla hai’ and ‘Itna lamba kash lo yaaron’ are well-tuned. While the first-mentioned song has universal appeal, the second will be liked in Maharashtra. Lyrics are very meaningful. Action scenes are appropriate. Camerawork (Manmohan Singh and Rajen Kothari) is excellent. Other technical values are of a good standard. Art direction is superb.

On the whole, Hu Tu Tu is too slow, dry, dull and drab to appeal to the viewer. Except in Maharashtra and a couple of big cities, where it would fare a bit better, its box-office result would be disastrous.

Released on 20-1-’99 at New Excelsior and 10 other cinemas and on 22-1-’99 at 1 more cinema of Bombay by Time Films International thru Shringar Films. Publicity: excellent. Opening: very good. …….Also released all over. Opening was fair at some places but poor at many others.

LATEST POSITION

Despite Idd festival, none of the new releases could get the benefit all over India. The films did take good starts but that was not universal. However, films like KKHH, CHINA GATE and SOLDIER did record fantastic collections due to Idd.

……..

Soldier 9th week Bombay 8,48,434 (62.51%) from 4 cinemas (3 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 5,12,474 from 3 cinemas (1 unrecd.); Delhi 1,73,445; Kanpur 2,30,446 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 1,80,984, Varanasi (27 shows) 1,45,613, Dehradun 87,555; Calcutta (6 days) 1,42,266; Nagpur 83,954 from 2 cinemas, 8th week Amravati (6 days) 46,627, 9th week Akola 75,601, Raipur (6 days) 39,362, 3rd week Jalgaon (6 days) 92,371, 9th Bilaspur (6 days) 32,300; Bhopal 1,20,000; Jaipur 2,50,434; Hyderabad 3,82,009.

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai 14th week Bombay 22,62,367 (64.04%) from 7 cinemas (4 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 5,21,682 from 3 cinemas, Baroda 1,61,068, Jamnagar (noon) 16,822; Solapur 1,23,396; Delhi 16,60,371 from 8 cinemas; Kanpur 2,21,673 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 3,02,475, Dehradun 90,000; Calcutta 3,94,610 from 3 cinemas; Nagpur 1,04,210, 1st week Kamptee 71,316, 9th week Jabalpur 1,58,369, total 17,50,713, 14th week Amravati (6 days) 80,166, Akola 67,246, total 15,49,047, Raipur (6 days) 64,671, Bilaspur (6 days) 45,212, 2nd week Balaghat 80,696, total 1,61,392; 14th week Indore 1,09,490; Jaipur 4,70,492, Ajmer 60,026; Hyderabad 4,74,772 from 2 cinemas (1 in noon); Vijayawada 3 weeks’ total 3,54,052.

………

‘KKKH’ 100 DAYS

Yash Johar’s Kuch Kuch Hota Hai completed 100 days of its run today (23rd January) all over. Written and directed by debut-making Karan Johar, the film stars Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Ranee Mukerji, Johny Lever, Farida Jalal, Anupam Kher, Archna Pooran Singh, Reema, Himani Shivpuri, master Parzan Dastur, baby Sana Saeed and Salman Khan and Neelam in friendly appearances. Its music is scored by Jatin Lalit.

G.P. SHIRKE DEAD

Producer G.P. Shirke expired on 20th January in Bombay. He was president of the Chamber of Motion Picture Producers and the Western India Film Producers Association, chairman of the Film Makers’ Combine and also chief of the Shiv Sena Chitrapat Shakha.

A meeting to condole his death was held at IMPPA House on 21st January.

PRADEEP CHHABRA DEAD

Pradeep R. Chhabra, son of late Ramchandra Chhabra of Chhabra Film Exchange, Bombay, expired on 22nd January due to heart failure. He was rushed to Jaslok Hospital after he complained of uneasiness. He breathed his last soon thereafter at the hospital.

He was 42 and is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter.

DO YOU KNOW?

* The Murad family seems to have a strong affinity for the title APRADHI KAUN. Actor Murad appeared in Bimal Roy’s film of that title in 1956. His son, Raza Murad, acted in Mohan Bhakri’s film of the same title in 1982. Mohan Bhakri is once again making APRADHI KAUN? and has singed up Raza Murad for a role in it. What’s more, Raza was also seen in a television serial of that name in 1985.

* KKHH is the 10th film to celebrate 100 days’ run at Vasant Talkies, Akola. The earlier nine films in the same league are GOPI, PREMNAGAR, KRANTI, DESH PREMEE, MUQADDAR KA SIKANDAR, NAGINA, HUM AAPKE HAIN KOUN..!, RAJA HINDUSTANI and DIL TO PAGAL HAI.

ANNOUNCEMENT & LAUNCHING

‘Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega’ To Roll

Nadiadwala Grandson’s Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega will be shot from Jan. 27 till Feb. 4 in Bombay. A team of experts from America will picturise thrilling scenes (with special effects to be done by CMM) on two Rajdhani trains between Bombay Central and New Delhi. Salman Khan, Karisma Kapoor and Ranee Mukerji will participate. Producer: Sajid Nadiadwala. Director: Raj Kanwar. Screenplay: Rumi Jafri. Dialogues: Javed Siddiqi. Scenario: Rakesh Malhotra. Lyrics: Sameer. Music: Anu Malik. Cinematography: W.B. Rao. Action: Abbas. Editor: A. Muthu.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Who’s The Winner? Nobody!

Four big films were released this week to take advantage of the Idd festival. But the funny part is that no film can claim to have reaped the benefit of the festival throughout India. If one film opened well in Bombay, its opening in C.I. and Rajasthan left a lot to be desired. If another had a decent opening in Maharashtra, its collections in some other circuits were pathetic. If a third opened to full houses in Patna, its opening day’s collections in Gujarat were 40%! Not only did Idd not prove bountiful for the films, the excess number of releases simultaneously also cut into one another’s collections. So there!

Varma’s Ventures

After completing Kaun, which has just one song, director Ramgopal Varma has now started shooting Mast which has — hold your breath — 11 songs! The music is scored by Sandeep Chowta, a well-known name in the South. Sandeep had recorded the background music in Ramgopal Varma’s Satya and has also composed the background score in his current Kaun. After Mast, which is supposed to be a ‘quickie’ (it is scheduled for a June ’99 release), Varma will soon start another film, starring Shah Rukh Khan.

No Difference

Producer Salim has shot a new climax for Mehndi. The new-look Mehndi was released yesterday but the response to the film is said to be not very different from what it was with the old climax.

INFORMATION MEETS

“I want to be the third consecutive generation of my family to bag the Dadasaheb Phalke award”

– RISHI KAPOOR

KOMAL NAHTA

Rishi Kapoor is a kid. And not just because his pet name is Chintu. But the way in which this 40-plus actor-turned-director runs away from any attempt to get him down to giving an interview, it is hardly any different from a 3-year old’s fear of holding a burning sparkler (phuljadi) in his hand. Not the one to let him get away with his “no”, you track him down to Empire Audio Centre on the last day of mixing of his first film as director, Aa Ab Laut Chalen. Amusingly, it is the film’s first reel that’s last to be mixed that morning after which recordist Anup Dev announces, “It’s over. We are through.” Chintu can’t believe it. “Really? Mera kaam khatm? Ab main kya karoonga? I’ve no work left! You mean, I can go home?” The child in Chintu has surfaced once again. Thanking Anup and the others in the room profusely for their unstinted support, he then moves out to thank everyone at Empire from owner Gaffarbhai Nadiadwala down to the office boys, shaking hands with every one of them, appreciating their efforts and support. He reveals later, “It was a very emotional moment, you know. Today is a very important day in my life. Now my job as director is over. Whatever I could do, I’ve done. Now let’s see what the public has to say about my labour of love.”

But before the people can say what they would have to say about Aa Ab Laut Chalen, you are there to know what Rishi has to say about the film and the filmmaking experience. “Nahin yaar, don’t be stupid,” he laughs. “Main kya boloon? I’m too embarrassed, chhod na! People know what kind of an actor I am — good, bad, ugly, whatever. As for the kind of director I am, what can I say? It’s my first film, let them see and decide for themselves. Forget it, yaar. I’m not too publicity-savvy, I can’t talk about myself, I’m…..” You don’t leave him, you pester him. Till he finally agrees to talk. You are happy. But your joy is short-lived. Because after every three or four sentences, Chintu tells you, “This is off-record” or “This is not for printing” or “Don’t write this” or, when he feels like being mischievous, “See, if you print this, I will hit you.”

Even though he won’t hit you, you don’t feel like letting down good old Chintu. You listen intently to what he has to say, on record as well as off record, and you realise that most of what is said off-record is about his supreme confidence in the film, its music, the performances of his cast etc. “I don’t want to sound haughty, let my film speak for itself,” he tells you while giving you the reason for speaking about so many things off-record. And so, if this interview reads disjointed, blame it on Chintu.

How does it feel to have directed a film? Is it as gratifying an experience as being an actor?
– More gratifying than that! As a director, I was totally in charge. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed myself, directing the film has been a great feeling. The whole experience is so creative. If you ask me, I’d say, every actor should become a director.

Do you mean to say that an actor is incomplete till he turns director?
– See, as a director, you’ve got so many roles to play. I’ve made Aa Ab Laut Chalen exactly the way I had wanted to. I’ve brought on screen what I had in mind. And for this, I have to thank my brothers, Randhir and Chimpu, without whom the film would not have been possible. About the film, I can say that it’s a very natural, real film. It’s a logical drama, it is what normal human beings would do in given situations. I’ve gone completely by the script. The film doesn’t have shots for the sake of shots, if they are there, they had to be there. That is why, you won’t find anything larger than life in my film. Of course, you don’t have background music in real life but my film has it. That’s because the medium of cinema requires it. Beyond these cinematic requirements, my film is as natural as can be. You may call it good, bad or ugly, but you can’t say, it’s unrealistic.

Since you are an actor yourself, did you enact the scenes to your artistes everytime?
– No, I never enacted scenes because, had I enacted them, everybody would have been Rishi Kapoor in the film! I used to only fine-tune the performances. I myself have never been a stylised actor. Like I am a spontaneous actor, I am also a spontaneous director. I never did any homework as an actor and, likewise, as a director. Of course, I had an absolutely bound script before I began shooting, but the daily shooting used to be spontaneous work.

Are you facing problems in respect of the price of your film because your hero, Akshaye Khanna’s past films have bombed?
– We’ve not sold our film on Akshaye’s name, so why blame him? Even when I signed Akshaye, he just had a Himalayputra behind him. I took him because he suited the role. In fact, all my artistes are going through professional lows but I take that as a challenge. I know one thing and that is, all of them have done tremendous work in my film, they’ve given me what I wanted and whatever was required of them. I couldn’t have asked for anything better. Irrespective of how the film fares at the box-office, I’ll say, I’m very very happy with my cast. And I may add here, the R.K. banner has always made films with conviction, not with stars. And you never know, like Soldier took a bumper opening despite Bobby Deol not being ‘hot’, Aa Ab Laut Chalen, too, may open well notwithstanding Akshaye’s past debacles. Miracles can happen.

Is there a move by distributors to seek a price reduction?
– We ourselves have voluntarily reduced the ratio from 2 to 1.75, looking to the present scenario. If one or two distributors do insist on a further price reduction, we will at least know that they are not worthy of being called our “permanent distributors”. We will not let there be any delivery tension but then we will know whom to deal with in the future. If I had the courage to show my film to all the distributors two months before release, there must be something in the film, right? I’m embarrassed to say this myself but just yesterday, my West Bengal and Bihar distributor, Sanjay Suchanti, and Rajasthan distributor, Sunderdas Sonkiya, saw the film and rushed from R.K. Studio to Empire (where I was mixing) well past midnight to compliment me. Sanjay Suchanti hugged me and started crying like a child — crying tears of joy.

Is your film a conscious attempt to target the Overseas audience in particular?
– Not at all. My story is based in a foreign land. Unlike other directors who go abroad to shoot only their songs, I had to go there because my story demanded it. The film will find identification everywhere. Everyone moves on in life for better prospects. A guy from Patna may come to Bombay to make a living, a man form Nanded may go to Pune. In my film, the hero goes from Delhi to New York. The film has an important lesson for the educated youth of India.

Do you think, the formidable R.K. banner has been a boon for you or a disadvantage?
– Definitely a boon. There is something called banner-loyalty. Aa Ab Laut Chalen is our third film after my dad’s demise. Although Prem Granth did not do well, our distributors haven’t deserted us. This is what is called banner loyalty or brand loyalty. As we brothers always tell our distributors, “We won’t leave you, may leave us if you so desire.”

What you are speaking about is banner-loyalty of distributors. Is there also banner-loyalty of the public?
– Yes, of course.

Then where was that loyalty at the time of PREM GRANTH? It took a bad start everywhere.
– Maybe Rishi Kapoor in Prem Granth was not the right choice. I was at the end of the road. The public is very smart, it can smell a film. It is likely that the public did not want to see me in Prem Granth.

Coming back to AA AB LAUT CHALEN, how many shifts have you shot it in? Has it been made in the scheduled budget?
– This is R.K. banner’s first film to have been completed so fast. I shot for just 150 days and that includes travelling and cancellations due to bad weather etc. Considering, it’s my first attempt at direction, it is creditable, I think, that I’ve not done a single day’s reshooting or even a single day’s patchwork shooting. And I might add here, my film has 18 important characters. I’ve not exposed more than 1,75,000 feet of raw stock. As for the expenditure involved, we have spent a fortune but that’s because it was the demand of the script. On the day of delivery, we will be in a deficit of over 2 crore but we are confident of our product. Besides, the film is being released in the Overseas in our account. I’m happy, there has been no wastage.

Why aren’t you having a premiere? Raj Kapoor Sahab was the showman. Doesn’t his son believe in showmanship?
– Where’s the time for the premiere? I’m mixing till today. Besides, I’m not very comfortable with premieres of my films. Maybe, I haven’t inherited this trait from my father. I can’t stand with folded hands at the exit of the cinema after the premiere show, waiting for bouquets and hoping, there’ll be no brickbats. I’m like that only, what to do? Besides, even if I had wanted to have a premiere, I’d not hold one unless it was absolutely well-planned. But yes, there will be a premiere in the USA and another one in London. And there’s one in Delhi too, but that’s a charity premiere.

Before we split, tell me, do you subscribe to the view that a film is made or marred on the editing table?
– That’s a good quotable quote, but the truth is not that. Your writing is what makes or mars your film. The script has got to be very good. I feel, my film has a lot of story material. Once you have a good script, you must make your film with confidence and conviction.

Any parting shot?
– I am working towards one goal — to win the Dadasaheb Phalke award. Both, my grandfather, Prithviraj Kapoor, and my father, Raj Kapoor, were honoured with the prestigious award, and I want to be the third consecutive generation of my family to some day bag the Dadasaheb Phalke award. My close friend and C.I. distributor, J.P. Chowksey, told me to make the Phalke award my goal, and I’ve done that…..

BABY BOY FOR GUDDU DHANOA

Santosh, wife of producer-director Guddu Dhanoa, gave birth to a baby boy on 9th January in Bombay. This is the couple’s first child and he has been christened Jeet. Incidentally, 9th January was also the wedding anniversary of Guddu and Santosh.

ZEE TO AIR EIGHT NEW CHANNELS

Zee Telefilms has announced its plans to launch eight new pay channels, including six regional channels, in the near future. The channels will be uplinked from India and will be transmitted digitally. The overall investment will be in the region of Rs. 110 crore. In the meantime, the Zee management has decided not to pursue its proposed merger with Star Network till a fair valuation of Zee Group’s business was arrived at.

The company has also announced its unaudited financial results for the third quarter ending 31st Dec., 1998, according to which the company has recorded a net profit of Rs. 14.36 crore (up 41% from the same period last year) against an income of Rs. 63.81 crore (up 21%).

M.B. SAMANT ELECTED CAA PRESIDENT

M.B. Samant was elected president of the Cine Advertisers’ Association for 1999-2000 at a meeting of its council of management held on 9th January. Ochhavlal was elected vice president, Brij Mittle, hon. secretary, and Kalgutkar, hon. treasurer. The other members of the executive committee are Satish Agarwal, Arvind Jhaveri, Chandrakant, Achal Agarwal, Garg, Balkrishna Vaidya and Mukesh Vasani.

ANJAN SHRIVASTAVA’S INTEGRATION MEET ’99

Actor and ex-MP Sunil Dutt was the chief guest at the Integration Meet ’99 on 9th January at Rang Sharda, Bandra, Bombay. Organised by actor Anjan Shrivastava and Allahabad Bank (where the actor has served for 30 years), the event was attended by many notable film personalities and other socialites. January 9 was the last day of Anjan Shrivastava’s service with Allahabad Bank.

J.P. Dutta, Amrish Puri, Danny Denzongpa, Mukesh Tiwari, Anjan Shrivastava, Kundan Shah, Bharati Achrekar, Sultan Ahmed, Ramesh Talwar, Siddharth Kak, Sanjay Chhel, Ram Mohan, K.K. Raina, Avtar Gill, Madhav Moghe, Rajeshwari, Neha Sharad, Udit Narayan and Ila Arun were felicitated. Shatrughan Sinha, MP, was also honoured at the meet. Playback singer Mubarak Begum was presented a purse of Rs. 5,000. Veteran film journalist R.M. Mishra (Cine Advance) was also felicitated. Rich tributes were paid to late lyricist Pradeep who had penned many popular songs on nationalism and national integration.

Anjan Shrivastava announced in his farewell speech that he was instituting an annual award for the best candidate of the CAIID, in memory of his late father, M.P. Shrivastava, who also served Allahabad Bank.

FIRST CONVICTION FOR VIDEO PIRACY

The Delhi metropolitan magistrate’s court has convicted a local video library owner for video piracy. Dinesh Chhabra was sentenced to a year’s imprisonment and charged a fine of Rs. 5,000 under sections 63 and 68-A of the Copyright Act. This is the first time that anyone has been convicted under the Act.

Chhabra had been found in possession of 403 unauthorised video cassettes of Hindi and Punjabi feature films, when the police had raided his video library in November ’86. The police had acted on a complaint filed by Neelakanth Shetgiri, director, Neha Films Pvt. Ltd.

The counsel for Chhabra said, the accused was a juvenile when he committed the crime, so the trial should be declared null and void. But the magistrate over-ruled the plea, stating that the accused had not produced anything on record to substantiate it.

The metropolitan magistrate remarked, “Such offences are to be taken seriously and should be considered economic offences.”

Citing a previous judgement, State of Gujarat vs. Mohan Lal and others, it was held that an economic offence is committed with cool calculation and deliberate design, with an eye on personal profit regardless of the consequences. A disregard for the interest of the community can be manifested only at the cost of forfeiting the trust and faith of the community in the system to administer justice, in an even handled manner, without fear of criticism from the quarters which view white collar crimes with a permissive eye, unmindful of the damage done to the national economy and national interest.

The judgement also quoted the Amendment Act 1965 of 1984. “There is three types of piracy — printed word, sound recording and cinematograph films. In all cases, the object is to make quick money and avoid payment of legitimate taxes and royalties.”

‘ZAKHM’ TAX-FREE IN MADHYA PRADESH

Mahesh Bhatt’s Zakhm has been granted exemption from payment of entertainment tax in Madhya Pradesh for 6 months with a maximum of two weeks per centre.

SURESH ISSAR, PUNIT ISSAR BEREAVED

Sarojini Devi, wife of director Sudesh Issar and mother of actor-director Punit Issar, expired on 13th January in Bombay. Chautha ceremony will be held today (Jan. 16) between 4.30 p.m. and 5.30 p.m. at Arya Samaj, Santacruz, Bombay.

YOU ASKED IT

Now that the Overseas market has grown so huge, will it result in Indian territorial prices of films coming down?

– The Overseas market has grown for barely 10% of the films — those starring heroes who are ‘hot’ there. So where’s the question of Indian territorial prices coming down because of that? Secondly, have you heard of anything coming down in this industry?

Is it a fact that producers are now allowed to shoot on second Sundays too?

– Yes, the Federation of Western India Cine Employees, in a meeting of its general council held on 25th November, 1998, unanimously decided to do away with the compulsory holiday on second Sundays. Producers are, therefore, now free to shoot on second Sundays.

After Mithun Chakraborty, who is the busiest actor with the maximum number of under-production films?

– Govinda and Jackie Shroff. Each of them has about 10 to 15 films under production.

DO YOU KNOW?

* Raveena Tondon is playing the female lead in top South film director Upendra’s Tamil-Telugu bilingual, titled UPENDRA. Besides producing and directing the film, Upendra will also cinematograph it, score its music and play the hero in it. Upendra’s last film, titled simply A, was a runaway hit.

* Tips, the producers of KACHCHE DHAAGE, are leaving no stone unturned to woo the Muslim population on the occasion of Idd. They have had special posters of the film (printed in Hyderabad), wishing ‘Idd Mubarak’ to all Muslims. The first batch of 5,000 attractive 30″ x 40″ posters has already arrived in Bombay for display in the circuit. Moreover, Tips have also released a special audio cassette of just the qawwali number from the film. The number is composed and rendered by late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. These cassettes will be distributed free of cost among Muslims mainly.

CENSOR NEWS

R.K. Films & Studios’ Aa Ab Laut Chalen, seen on 12th, has been issued C.C. No. CIL/1/4/99 (U) dt. 15-1-’99; length 4848.07 metres in 19 reels (cuts: 26.67 metres and replacement: 26.67 metres).

Warner Brothers’ (USA) Tej Raftar (dubbed), applied on 12th and seen the same day, has been issued C.C. No. CFL/2/2/99 (UA) dt. 14-1-’99; length 2679.50 metres in 5 reels (no cut). Applicant: Warner Brothers (F.E.) Inc.

Aabha Films’ Shera has been passed for adults, with cuts.

5000 Films’ Murda Ghar has been refused certificate.

Ishwar Films’ Khooni Ilaaka (re-revised) has been passed with UA certificate, with cuts.

Karishma International’s Kaala Samrajya was seen by the revising committee on 11th.

Columbia Tristar Films’ Khooni Aahat (dubbed) was seen on 13th.

Bhooshan Films’ Dracula (length 2322.30 metres in 12 reels), applied on 11th, was seen on 15th.

Film Works India’s Bombay Boys (dubbed; length 2860.29 metres in 5 reels), applied on 12th and seen on 14th, has been offered some cuts in sound.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Star Tallies

That 1999 will see the release of films of almost all the top directors is common knowledge now. Subhash Ghai, Rakesh Roshan, Sooraj Barjatya, Rajkumar Santoshi, Indra Kumar, Raj Kanwar, Dharmesh Darshan, Abbas-Mustan and David Dhawan will all have a film of theirs hitting the screens. David Dhawan, of course, may have three or even more releases this year.

And what about the heroes? Amitabh Bachchan could have four or five releases. Lal Baadshah, Kohram, Hindustan Ki Kasam, Sooryavansham and S. Raamanathan’s untitled film are all racing towards completion.

Shah Rukh Khan has Badshah, Aap Mere Hain Sanam, Josh and K. Sashilal Nair’s film (is it called One Two Ka Four?) to look forward to.

Mann, Mela, Sarfarosh and 1947 (Earth) will be Aamir’s list for this year.

Salman Khan will be seen in plenty of films. Take a look at his list: Jaanam Samjha Karo, Biwi No. 1, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Hum Saath Saath Hain, Aap Mere Hain Sanam, Chal Mere Bhai and Hello Brother.

Govinda, the busiest hero after Mithun Chakraborty, may have six to right releases in 1999. Among his under-production films at various stages are Anari No. 1, Rajaji, Kunwara, Albela, Dil Ki Dhadkan, Dil Ke Aas Paas, Hadh Kardi Aapne, Hum Tum Pe Marte Hain, Shikari and Chalo Ishq Ladayen.

Anil Kapoor, who will begin his account in the new year with Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain next week, will also be seen in Pukaar, Biwi No. 1, Taal and Bulundi for sure. His Aankh Micholi has just started but you never know, that too just might make it.

Akshaye Khanna, too, is set to start his account next week with Aa Ab Laut Chalen, to be followed by Laawaris, Dahek and Taal.

Sunny Deol will have his own directorial venture, Dillagi, releasing in 1999. His other under-production films are  Arjun Pandit, Farz, Champion, Pyar Koi Khel Nahin and some more.

Bobby Deol is the other hero in Sunny’s Dillagi. Deol Jr. also has Hum To Mohabbat Karega and Salim’s untitled film due this year, besides a couple of other films, maybe.

Ajay Devgan may well have six to seven releases beginning with Kachche Dhaage. Among the seven, there will be dad Veeru Devgan’s Hindustan Ki Kasam. Then there’s Takshak, Hogi Pyar Ki Jeet, Chhalia, Aankh Micholi, Dil Kya Kare and a couple of others.

Akshay Kumar and Sunil Shetty may have five/six and seven/eight releases respectively. Mithun Chakraborty may have almost 20 in 1999! Sanjay Dutt, too, may be seen in seven or eight films this year. His first release will be Daag – The Fire.

Odd Release Due To Idd

With Idd due on 20th, almost all the releases of next week will come on Wednesday (20th) instead of the customary Thursday/Friday. With the Idd holiday on 20th and another public holiday on 26th January (Republic Day), the week may well prove to be bountiful for all the new releases. Perhaps, the dull Ramzan period that concludes on 20th and the Republic Day holiday are the two main reasons for there being four star-cast films — Aa Ab Laut Chalen, Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain, Hu Tu Tu and Bade Dilwala — due for release next week.

Censorship And R.K. Banner

Whoever thought that the CBFC bowing down to public outcry against films after their release is a recent phenomenon must read the following:

As far back as in 1949, the certificate of Raj Kapoor’s Barsaat was changed to ‘A’ — six months after the film’s release with a ‘U’ certificate! Apparently, a lot of people objected to — believe it or not! — a scene in the film where the heroine was shown clad in a salwar-kameez but without the duppatta! Another of the showman’s many films, Awara (1951), also witnessed the changing of its certificate from ‘U’ to ‘A’ months after its release. His Jaagte Raho (1956) invited the wrath of the Sikh community which protested vehemently against a character playing with a Sikh character’s turban in the song Main jhooth bole na in the film. Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai (1960) had to be reshot, in parts, after its release because people found Padmini’s costumes and dance in the song O maine pyaar kiya too objectionable. Sangam (1964) had a similar problem — this time with Vyjayanthimala. The song, Main ka karoon Ram / mujhe buddha mil gaya, but of course! Simi’s steamy scenes were also too hard for the masses to handle in Mera Naam Joker (1970). Net result: Raj Kapoor had trouble once again after his film’s release. Even Ram Teri Ganga Maili, released with ‘U’ certificate in 1985, was reviewed on public demand, six months after its release. Subsequently, its certificate was changed to ‘UA’.

No Khandala Invitations, Please

The censors have reportedly objected to the patent dialogue of Shakti Kapoor in Zameen Ke Neeche, which goes thus: “Aati kya Khandala?”. Obviously inspired by the hit song from Ghulam, the producers must’ve never imagined that this seemingly innocuous dialogue would upset the censors, especially because the song from Ghulam was cleared without any hitch. But like one man’s food can be another man’s poison, one actor’s popular dialogue/song can be taboo for another actor. Shakti Kapoor plays a policeman in Zameen Ke Neeche and he is shown asking the question to every girl he encounters. This, perhaps, in the opinion of the CBFC, would lower the respectability of policemen in the eyes of the public. That is why, the CBFC wants this dialogue in every scene that it appears, chopped off and, perhaps, buried zameen ke neeche!

1948 Humour

A scene in Raj Kapoor’s Aag (1948) was heavily objected to by an esteemed member of the censor board, much to the filmmaker’s dismay. The showman was asked to change the dialogue where a father rebukes his son, “Tu iss gaddi par baithega?” Great confusion and a lot of explanations later, Raj Kapoor was able to finally convince the objecting member, who came from a non-Hindi-speaking community, that gaddi is not the same word as the Hindi word for a female donkey!

DILIP KUMAR RECOVERING

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

‘PYAAR TO HONA HI THA’ SILVER JUBILEE

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

KARISMA KAPOOR INJURED

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

TWO AHMEDABAD CINEMAS RAIDED FOR SCREENING ‘BITS’

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

GIRISH SHAH’S DAUGHTER TO WED

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

PRODUCTION NEWS

Salim’s Film In Full Swing

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

‘Arjun Pandit’ In Dehradun, Hardwar

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

‘Pukaar’ Complete

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

‘Aa Ab Laut Chalen’ On January 22

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

Shah Rukh, Juhi Starrer Progresses

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

‘Haseena Maan Jayegi’ 8-Day Spell

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

Chandrachur Starts Dubbing For ‘Silsila Hai Pyar Ka’

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

SIGNED

Dev Anand Signs New Girl For ‘Censor’

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

YOU ASKED IT

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

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

How many releases will Aamir Khan have in 1999?

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

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

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

CENSOR NEWS

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

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

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

IMPORTED FILMS

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

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

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

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

Virgo Films’ Snake Lady was applied on 6th.

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

Koneru Films’ Save Me was applied on 8th.

DO YOU KNOW?

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

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

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

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

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

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Bhatti Springs One More

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

Line Inspectors Aapke Office Mein Rehte Hain?

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

The Birthday That Never Was

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

A Hit Film: Reason To Rejoice Or Repent?

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

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

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

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

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

– Komal Nahta