CINEMA BANDH MAKES INTERNATIONAL NEWS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

EFFORTS TO END STALEMATE ON

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

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

INCORRECT INTERPRETATION

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

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

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

What The State Election Commissioner Has To Say

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

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

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

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

Need of the Hour: Unity

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

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

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

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

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

– Komal Nahta

GOVERNMENT’S BLUFF

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

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

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

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

THEMATIC CLASSIFICATION OF INDIAN FEATURE FILMS CERTIFIED DURING 1996

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

INDORE DIARY

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

– Gautam Mutha

IT’S 3 CRORES

The audio cassettes of Yash Chopras’s Dil To Pagal Hai have been released by HMV. And Yash Chopra has revealed the price at which he is selling the film to its distributors. It is reportedly 3 crore per major circuit.

LATEST POSITION

The initial excitement of DAUD gave way to dejection as the week progressed and saw its collections coming down drastically day by day. Even the energetic performances of Sanjay Dutt and Urmila Matondkar couldn’t salvage the film.

Daud, after a flying start, crashed from 4th/5th day onwards. Even trimming mid-week couldn’t better its weak sustaining power. It will entail heavy losses to distributors and exhibitors. 1st week Bombay 40,86,371 (89.89%) from 12 cinemas (11 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 11,70,782 from 8 cinemas, Vapi 2,39,621, Padra 1,52,476, Rajkot (matinee) 52,888, Jamnagar (matinee) 36,530; Pune 11,77,417 from 6 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 3,18,461 from 2 cinemas, Satara 1,89,472 (80.13%); Hubli 100%, Belgaum 100%, Dharwad 100%; Delhi 39,53,387 (83.89%) from 10 cinemas; Kanpur 4,06,546 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 2,46,637, Agra 3,51,360, Allahabad 1,66,000, Meerut 2,03,371, Bareilly 1,47,932 (67.37%), Dehradun 1,40,000, Gorakhpur 1,36,000 (74.62%), Varanasi 1,79,246; Calcutta 22,16,086 (56.32%) from 26 cinemas; Nagpur 6,03,041 from 5 cinemas, Amravati 1,70,523, Akola 1,65,055, Bhilai 1,59,129 from 2 cinemas; Indore 2,59,092 (2 on F.H.), Bhopal 3,53,153 from 2 cinemas; Jaipur 8,52,217 from 4 cinemas, Jodhpur 2,25,000, Bikaner 2,13,244; Hyderabad 56,81,026 from 25 cinemas, share 31,00,000; Vijayawada 5,33,000 from 3 cinemas, Guntur 1,10,000 from 2 cinemas, Venali 97,000, Ongole 1,53,000, Eluru 98,000, Bhimavaram 1,10,000.

…Aur Pyar Ho Gaya will entail losses to the tune of a crore and more per major circuit. 2nd week Bombay 14,41,452 (65.49%) from 5 cinemas (8 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 1,22,202 from 2 cinemas (1 unrecd.), Baroda 1,09,921, Jamnagar 66,814; Pune 3,87,185 from 4 cinemas (2 in matinee), Kolhapur 60,226, Solapur 60,844; 1st week Hubli 1,06,956 (69.20%); 2nd week Delhi 26,39,886 from 10 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 1,52,202 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 1,70,770, Agra 1,10,380 (1st 2,18,711), Meerut 87,434, Dehradun 70,152, Gorakhpur 69,000, Varanasi 91,758; Rohtak 15,756 (1st 29,238); Calcutta 3,41,052 from 2 cinemas; Nagpur 51,540, Jabalpur 1,08,563, total 2,93,485, 1st week Akola 84,329, 2nd week Bhilai 36,400; Indore 1,24,225, Bhopal 1,38,601 from 2 cinemas; Jaipur 1,85,480, Bikaner (26 shows) 86,732; Hyderabad 4,41,034 from 3 cinemas (2 in noon).

Mere Sapno Ki Rani is steady on mediocre collections in parts of Maharashtra and Bihar, but is a total loss in North. It will entail heavy losses to third parties/exhibitors who paid handsome terms. 2nd week Bombay 7,09,095 (53.87%) from 4 cinemas (5 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 86,930 from 2 cinemas, Vapi 98,998, Rajkot (14 shows) 94,828; Pune 2,63,357 from 3 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur (matinee) 55,476; Hubli 37,845 (32.67%, 1st 70,990); Delhi 1,74,940 from 4 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Kanpur 34,703, Lucknow 39,586, 1st week Agra 71,384, 2nd week Allahabad 24,000; Calcutta 1,89,014; Nagpur 84,215 from 2 cinemas, Amravati 87,282, Akola 41,000, Bhilai 38,167, Durg 41,722, Jalgaon 53,700, Wardha 27,501; Indore 63,272, Bhopal 62,902 (1st 79,089); Jaipur 52,153; Hyderabad 2,06,118.

Pardes, as predicted three weeks back, will prove to be a commission-earner in most circuits and average in a couple of them. 3rd week Bombay 20,11,463 (83.78%) from 7 cinemas (8 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 3,78,403 from 2 cinemas (1 unrecd.), Vapi 2,03,016, Bharuch (gross) 1,72,640, Rajkot 1,78,000, Jamnagar 78,760, total 2,36,811; Pune 4,54,935 from 3 cinemas (1 in matinee), Kolhapur 1,60,000, Solapur 1,45,000, Satara 92,783; Delhi 20,07,281 from 7 cinemas; Kanpur (6 days) 1,89,365 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 2,37,768, Agra 1,28,460 (2nd 1,85,714), Allahabad 93,500, Meerut (6 days) 1,40,712, Bareilly (6 days) 63,788 (2nd 1,31,303; 50.53%), Dehradun 1,12,000, Gorakhpur 75,000, Varanasi 1,11,397; Calcutta 5,73,196 from 4 cinemas (1 in noon); Nagpur 1,67,567 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 96,485 (2nd 1,44,532), Amravati (6 days) 85,917, Akola 1,00,651, 2nd week Dhule (6 days) 57,383, 3rd week Bhilai (6 days) 64,401, 2nd Jalgaon 1,12,083; 3rd week Bhopal 1,01,151, Ujjain 42,293; Jaipur 1,83,243; Vijayawada 1,95,533, total 7,90,651.

…………

RAJAT RAKSHIT DEAD

Director Rajat Rakshit died of acute asthama on 27th August at Cooper Hospital, Irla, Bombay. He was 55 and a bachelor.

He had directed Damaad, Bin Phere Hum Tere, Rakt Bandhan, Yahan Wahan, Naya Khoon, Meri Biwi Ki Shadi, Ruswai and Faraib.

MAJOR RENOVATION AT GANGA-JAMUNA CINEMAS OF BOMBAY

Ganga and Jamuna cinemas at Tardeo, Bombay, are being extensively renovated by owner Gul Achhra. They will be equipped with Dolby digital sound and will be now called Ganga Palace and Jamuna Palace.

Jamuna Palace will screen The Lost World: Jurassic Park (dubbed) from 5th September, and Ganga Palace, Judge Mujrim from 12th September. Both the films are being distributed in Bombay (the former in Bombay city & suburbs only) by Gul Achhra himself.

The cinemas have a facility for parking about 150 cars.

IN DEFENSE OF STARS

A large number of national and regional newspapers and periodicals have written a lot about the nexus of film people and the underworld. Mumbai politicians and police officers are blaming the film industry for taking finance from the underworld. The truth is that most politicians have close links with the underworld, and police is deliberately overlooking the unholy alliance between politicians and criminals. Police have no courage to accept that they have been under tremendous pressure. An old allegation against the film people is that some of them have been friendly with Dawood and they used to sing and dance in his parties held in Dubai. Photographs of the stars with Dawood, taken at Sharjah cricket stadium, have been repeatedly published. It is a fact that most stars have to pose with strangers and it is part of their profession. Today, it is being conveniently forgotten that once there was a video cassette depicting top politicians and police officers hobnobbing with notorious criminals. The most horrifying truth is that every small town has a don, and most people pay their respects to the local don. The street goondas also get respect and money from their area. In every small town and village, criminals are patronised by politicians. It is a well-known truth that politicians were the first to make use of criminals in election campaigns. Top people from the Election Commission have deplored the nexus between politicians and criminals. There are criminal cases against forty Members of Parliament. Criminals have invaded every aspect of life, and India has become a haven for criminals. There is an excellent scene in Rajkumar Santoshi’s Ghatak where Sunny advises his brother to fight for the shop in Mumbai. The elder brother wanted to go to his native place to cultivate land. Sunny says that there are criminals in the native place also. “If you do not fight against them in Mumbai, you will not be able to fight against them at Banaras.” The naked truth is that the entire nation is in the grip of fear. Everyone feels the presence of the invisible knife hanging in air over their heads. Dons are born from the womb of fear. When such is the state of affairs in the country, why blame the poor film stars for being friendly with the underworld?

There may be more than a lakh rich people in Mumbai alone, who can buy the entire film industry, but the underworld does not touch them because they know that any single real rich man can destroy the very politician who patronises them. Film people have no such muscle power. Stars are a frightened lot. They are lonely and miserable.

There is one area of closeness between stars and criminals. Most of the criminals have been ardent fans of stars and some of them wished to become stars when they were young. All of them are film-crazy people. When they attain enough muscle power, they manage to get stars to attend their parties. The neo rich from small towns pay a lot of money to the stars to inaugurate their offices and industries. No one minds this trend but everyone objects to stars attending birthdays of a don. Politicians also use the whip of income-tax to get stars at their residence. Most stars take part in election campaigns because of some fear. Police and politicians are seeking scapegoats in stars to hide their own failure and unholy alliance with criminals.

Today, India is like a masala film based on a script written by spineless politicians. Let’s hope, India rises above the script in the 21st century.

– J.P. Chowksey
Prachi Films,
Indore

YOU ASKED IT

Has audience taste changed in the last few years or is it the same?

– It has definitely changed. The audience is now receptive to newer subjects. What used to earlier click in just major cities, now appeals to the cinegoer in a small town also.

When should an artiste venture into doing a film which has a role which is not quite in keeping with his public image?

– Only when he has been accepted completely by the public and at least his last two or three films (in which he plays roles suited to his public image) have clicked.

What are the average theatre rentals in Bombay city and suburbs?

– About 35% of capacity in side-cinemas and 50% in main cinemas.

HERE & THERE

Shabana Goes To Rajya Sabha

Shabana Azmi is the latest star to become a Member of Parliament. She is among the nine who have been nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the President. Shabana, who has been recognised by the world as an actress of international standard, has won many national and international awards, worked as the chairperson of the N’CYP and is a social activist engaged in fighting for the rights of the downtrodden, will not be just a decorative piece in the Rajya Sabha as she has a mind of her own and is also outspoken.

The swearing-in ceremony of the new Rajya Sabha members was held on 29th August in Delhi. Mrinal Sen was sworn in that day but Shabana could not attend the ceremony in Delhi.

Filmmakers Demand Industry Status

A seminar on ‘The film industry’s expectations and government policy framework’ was organised on 23rd August as part of the Films Fair ’97, and a number of industry stalwarts as well as government officials participated in it. The filmmakers demanded recognition for filmmaking as an industry, and steps to mitigate its problems. It was emphasised by the industry speakers that the film industry was going through probably its toughest and trying period in its 100 years’ old history and the government should lend a helping hand to help it tide over the crisis. IMPPA president Sultan Ahmed asked the state and central governments to return part of the money earned through taxes on films, to the industry for the development of infrastructure facilities. He denied that there was any nexus between the film industry and the underworld. Only a few have connections with them, he said. AMPTPP president Pahlaj Nihalani expressed his unhappiness over the functioning of the Censor Board. He said that more often, personal biases and prejudices were at work when a decision was being taken. M. Bhaktavatsala from Karnataka was critical of the NFDC, which, according to him, had been usurped by a handful of directors while majority of the producers were being neglected. He also criticised the high rates of taxes and entertainment tax. ITPO chairman K.K. Mathur said that ITPO would try to act as a bridge between the industry and the government.

The seminar was jointly organised by ITPO and Federation of Film Societies of India.

Reshma Blames Indian Composers For Plagiarising Tunes

It was late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan first. Now is the turn of Reshma, the Pakistani singer who is in India these days and whom Subhash Ghai had introduced to Indian film music lovers in his film, Hero, with the song Lambi judaai. Reshma was in Patna this week, where she told the press that some of her best tunes had been dubbed in Hindi films without any acknowledgement. She said that Lata’s Yaara sili sili from Lekin was lifted from her 28-year-old song. She also blamed Lata for singing the ‘lifted’ song. Reshma rendered that song at a concert in presence of Bihar’s chief minister, Rabri Devi.

IN & OUT OF BOMBAY

Producer Pravesh Sippy is in Africa to scout locations for SILSILA HAI PYAR KA, and will return after 10 days.

Producer-director Subhash Ghai is in Australia.

Director Aditya Chopra, Bombay exhibitor-distributor Anil Thadani and director Karan Johar will go to London on 1st September.

CCCA president Santosh Singh Jain is in Indore and is expected back in a day or two.

Actress and stage artiste Mini Tabassum left for the USA for stage shows on 27th August and will return on 1st October.

DO YOU KNOW?

* Shri Krishna Talkies at Seoni Malwa (M.P.) must be the only cinema in the country which celebrates the birth of Lord Krishna every year along with its patrons. Every year, at the stroke of midnight when Krishna was born on Janmashtami, the cinema stops the screening of the film for a while and distributes prasad among the patrons. The cinema also has a Krishna temple in its premises, where a pooja is done at 12 midnight on Janmashtami.

* DAUD has created a theatre record by collecting 2,26,176/- in 1st week at Shree, Ahmedabad.

* BORDER has created a record by collecting 51,700/- in 11th combined week at Palace, Allahabad.

* BORDER (tax-free) has created a city record by collecting 72,105/- (against a capacity of 80,318/-) in 1st week at Shashikant Chitra Mandir, Karanja (C.P. Berar), despite heavy rains.

* ANACONDA (dubbed) has created a city record by collecting 60,004/- in 1st week at Rajkala, Wardha, in spite of heavy rains.

MIX MASALA

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Believe it or not but many people in the industry refer to …Aur Pyar Ho Gaya as Aao Pyar Karen. And there are many who call Virasat as Hirasat!

EARTHY COINCIDENCE

In this week’s release, Prithvi, Sunil Shetty’s name is Prithvi. And in real life, Sunil lives in Prithvi Apartments on Altamount Road. Why, he has bought another flat in the same building from Bombay distributor Ashok Ahuja.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Believe it or not but many people in the industry refer to …Aur Pyar Ho Gaya as Aao Pyar Karen. And there are many who call Virasat as Hirasat!

Dream Merchant

WATER DREAM……..WHAT A DREAM!

Last Friday’s torrential rains which lashed Bombay city and threw it completely out of gear caught me in my dream the following night.

I dreamt about the entire Bombay film industry battling with the rain water. The more enterprising ones were enjoying themselves in the downpour.

Aamir Khan, who could barely keep his face out of the waist-deep water outside his house (it was waist-deep for me and, therefore, more than neck-deep for ‘shorty’ Aamir), was struggling to reach his car parked outside his compound. Drenched in the rain from the top and the water below, he managed to hold a picture of Karisma Kapoor in his right hand and an imported umbrella in his left, as he sang loudly, “Pardesi pardesi nahaana nahin / Mujhe chhod ke, mujhe chhod ke / Pardesi mere yaara, vaada nibhana / Tum yaad rakhna, kahin doob na jaana / Pardesi pardesi….”

Just nearby, Urmila Matondkar, clad in a skimpy bikini, was getting down from her Maruti Zen which had a breakdown in the water-clogged road. Umbrella-less, she waved out to her umbrella-clinging Rangeela hero and wondered aloud, “Why don’t you dress up like me? Na rahenge tan pe kapde, na honge geele!” But looking at Aamir singing away to himself, Urmila also broke into a song, asking Aamir to join her thus: “Yayee re, yayee re, baarish zor zor se aaye re / Chal ho jaa mere sang, thoda sa be-dhang / Ho jaa geela re, ho jaa geela re…” Waving goodbye to an unwilling Aamir, she said, she had to reach Gaiety cinema for the first-day-show of Daud.

Outside Gaiety cinema, producer-director Ramgopal Varma stood expectantly as boat-loads of people came to see Daud. He was waiting for his Bombay distributor Shyam Shroff who had promised to be with Ramgopal (Ramu) at 11.30 a.m. It was almost 2 p.m. and I don’t know whether Ramu was crying at the poor public reaction or because he was missing Shyam Shroff. Or was it the rain water rolling down his cheeks and not tears? Anyway, Ramu too started singing a song, “Rain-a beeti jaaye / Shyam na aaye / Rain-a beeti jaaye…”

Barely had he started the song than Shyam Shroff arrived on the scene with a bag full of bottles of Ganga jal which he had bought some time back for distribution among patrons of Lav Kush before the start of every show at Maratha Mandir, Bombay. Since nobody came to see Lav Kush, the Ganga jal remained unused. Aware that people found Daud vulgar, Shyam Shroff had decided to distribute Ganga jal among the viewers after every show to cleanse them and their minds. When he told Ramu of his plan, the latter felt insulted. Pointing to the rain water dropping into the open bottles of Ganga jal, Ramu remarked, “Shyam, teri Ganga maili ho gayee.” Just then, Urmila — her face soiled and her wet hair dishevelled — reached the cinema. To get back at Ramu, Shyam Shroff shot back, “Ram, teri Urmi maili ho gayee.”

I cornered Ramu and asked him what his next film would be. Drawing inspiration from the wet atmosphere, he replied, “It will be called either Geela or Rain-Geela. And since I’m accused of exposing my heroines in my films, I’ll not do anything of the sort in this film. That’s why, it will be the hero taking bath in the rains this time. And like my Satya is a songless film, Geela/Rain-Geela will be a heroine-less film.”

Just then, I saw Shekhar Kapur in a wet Digjam suitings coat, in conversation with Bobby Bedi. “Shekhar, why this long absence?”, I asked him. “When are you starting your next? What’s it about?” Slow-coach Shekhar, as usual, was undecided. “Wet and watch,” he winked.

Watch I did. At Lokhandwala bazaar, I was astonished to see Sridevi buying vegetables from a roadside vendor, her teeth chattering because of the cold water in which she was standing. She was making an attempt to talk in shudh Hindi under hubby Boney’s instructions, and on reaching home, she told hubby — in shudh Hindi again — “Dekhiye jee, main to paani-paani ho gayee!” Boney buried his face in his hands and wanted to drown in the rain water at such atrocious Hindi.

BBC News on television came up with a sensational bit of news. Away in Bangalore, Mandakini was throwing a fit at being left out of the rain drama in Bombay. She telephoned Rishi Kapoor and begged of him to sign her for his directorial venture. She reminded Rishi of how she had boldly done the waterfall bathing scene in his father Raj Kapoor’s Ram Teri Ganga Maili. Sentimental Rishi agreed to drop Aishwarya Rai and take Mandakini in her place. Packing her bags with bikinis, Mandakini told her mom, “Aa ab laut chalen.”

Rajiv Kapoor too decided on that wet Friday that he should return to direction after the long holiday. “So what if Prem Granth did not run,” he told elder brother Randhir Kapoor. “I’ll make Rain Granth this time. And I’ll make it in collaboration with BMC. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will give me a lot of data on the rains in Bombay, down the centuries. People felt, Prem Granth was too dry, so, I’ve even chosen a wet title this time.”

Time took me to the office of Time Audio-Video. The Vijaypath makers were planning to announce Paanipath. No, it had nothing to do with the water-laden paths in Bombay. Rather, it was based on the battle of Panipat. The ‘h’ and extra ‘a’ in the title were purely for numerological reasons.

Numerology had me meeting producer Vashu Bhagnani who is obsessed with the number 1. Had the rains inspired him to announce another No. 1 film, I asked. “Yes,” he smiled, “Before Biwi No. 1, I plan to make Paani No. 1. The film will deal with water and related problems. It will star Govinda and will be shot completely in water.” Oh, a desi Waterworld, I suppose. “It will be a watershed film,” said an excited Vashu.

Suddenly, I heard Baba Sehgal singing a familiar song. He was gesticulating to Sheeba and the song went, “Aaja mere paani mein kood ja / Aaja mere paani mein kood ja / Swimming karenge / Dance bhi karenge / Gaana bajaana, khaana-peena paani mein hoga sanam…”

Anil Kapoor had to show his sincerity even on the rainy day. His driver was rowing a boat in which he was going towards Film City. Apparently, the boat had lost direction and a forlorn Anil was singing, “O majhi re, apna kinara…. Film City ka temple hai / O majhi re…”

At Film City, Salman Khan was shooting a rain song for brother Sohail Khan’s Pyar Kiya Yo Darna Kya. His heroine, Kajol, had not reached the location, and the shooting was held up for a while. Sohail’s fertile brain, during the forced interval, thought of a sequel to the film. It would be titled Paani Gira To Karna Kya.

On another floor, Akshay Kumar was barely able to give his shot because the water had reached the tall hero’s neck. I was scared, Akshay would drown. As it is, his films were sinking, I thought, and it would be terrible if the poor guy also drowned. Luckily, a taller and skinny Kamal Sidhu was shooting on the maidan in Film City and I requested her to get Akshay out of the water which she did. Doobte ko Thin K (Kamal) ka sahara mil gaya and I was happy.

On a set in Film City, Priya Teudulkar was shooting the 100th episode of The Priya Tendulkar Show. She had clinched the opportunity and had selected the topic ‘Should there be rains in Bombay?’ for the century episode. On the panel were Rain God Lord Indra, head of the meteorological department, and Sachin Tendulkar whose cricket was damper than the rains.

Producer R.V. Pandit had managed to reach the censor office despite the blocked roads, and was seen arguing with the soaked-in-rain regional officer who refused to issue a censor certificate to his Train to Pakistan. Maintaining his cool, despite all odds, Pandit informed me, “I am planning two more films now — Plane To Afghanistan and Rain From Pakistan. Khushwant Singh firmly believes that these torrential rains have been master-minded by our enemy, Pakistan.”

Rahul Rawail had just returned from London from the shooting of London and had managed to reach a far-off cinema screening his …Aur Pyar Ho Gaya to gauge the public reaction. He was in for a shock because there was no public, what to talk of reaction. “I’m sure, people haven’t come because of the rains,” he said, trying to hide the tears that threatened to come out of his eyes. Continuing his brave act, he sighed, “Oh, I thought, my film would at least be a Barsaat and I’m sure, it had the chances, but the rains have spoilt everything. I was looking forward to telephoning hero Bobby Deol in London today to give him the good news that the film Barsaat ho gayee, but look, I’ll now have to tell him that real life mein. …aur barsaat ho gayee.”

Amitabh Bachchan was frantically waving out to the stray cabs plying in the waist-deep water on Juhu Tara Road, but nobody was willing to stop. He had come out of his director, Mehul Kumar’s office, and his car refused to take off — in much the same way as his Mrityudaata had refused to take off. I thought, I’d chat up with him and swam across the road. “Where are you going? How have the rains affected you?”, I queried. With a fallen face, Amitabh replied, “It’s terrible. Meri company, ABCL, doob gayee.” Of course, I knew that, but what had the rains got to do with the company’s doobna? I asked him, “Doob gayee — figuratively speaking, isn’t it? “Yes, figuratively speaking,” he replied, “because all the figures of my creditors bhi saath mein doob gaye!”

– Komal Nahta

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Of Content And Form

Although Pardes did not boast of a very exciting start, its collections became steady as the weeks progressed. On the other hand, Daud opened to bumper houses everywhere but collections began to drop day by day. This, in sum, describes the fate of, what we say, a grammatically correct film (Pardes) and grammatically incorrect film (Daud). The former had substance, the latter was rich in form but poor in content.

RAJA HINDUSTANI

Cineyug’s Raja Hindustani is a brilliant film with a very Indian story. A taxi driver-cum-tourist guide falls in love with a millionaire’s only daughter. The girl, much against her father’s wishes, spurns every one to get married to the driver. Her scheming step-mother, however, will not let the marriage succeed even though the father soon gives his acceptance to the marriage. All hell breaks loose in the happily married couple’s life as the wretched step-mother creates misunderstandings between the husband and wife. Things reach a stage when the two separate from each other. The step-mother tries her best to ensure that the separation gives way to divorce, but does not succeed. Ultimately, the misunderstandings are cleared after a bit of action drama, and the couple unites again.

The major part of the first half is light and fun-filled. A couple of reels before the interval, it takes a serious and dramatic turn and that’s where the film involves the viewer completely. Many of the light portions of the hero (Aamir Khan) are quite enjoyable, but if a couple of scenes lack in entertainment value, it is mainly because one has seen Aamir do similar things in Rangeela and not because of a defect in scripting. However, the initial two reels are quite routine. The second half abounds in emotions and histrionics.

Although the pre-interval portion reminds of Jab Jab Phool Khile and the post-interval portion, of Pyar Jhukta Nahin, there are some new angles to the story and the fresh presentation, all of which lend it the desired novel effect. Principal among the new angles are: (i) the hero’s refusal to sign the divorce papers supposedly sent by his wife, because of his firm belief that marriage is a sacred institution which cannot be broken with the stroke of a pen; and (ii) the heroine’s refusal to divorce her husband. These two scenes reaffirm one’s faith in the institution of marriage and are so reassuring that they will be fantastic scoring points to make the ladies audience love — no, adore — the film. The refusals, of the husband first and the wife later, come at moments when one actually expects that they would sign the divorce papers. The shock value, coupled with the heartwarming feeling one experiences after these two scenes, are enough to bowl the ladies audience over and make them patronise this film in a very big way.

Performances of at least three lead artistes — Aamir Khan, Karisma Kapoor and Archna Puran Singh — are award-winning. Aamir does a fantastic job, especially in the dramatic and serious scenes. His drunken scene, in which he is a picture of frustration, bitterness and confusion, is mind-blowing and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that few could have done it with so much finesse and restraint as Aamir. Karisma Kapoor is the surprise packet of the film. All awards this year for the best actress need to be reserved for Karisma who is simply superb in the film. Not once does she go overboard; she comes up with a truly mesmerising performance. Her histrionics are fantastic. With this film, Karisma makes a comfortable place for herself in the top bracket. That she looks gorgeous in her new hair-style in the first half is an added advantage. Archna Puran Singh, as her horrible step-mother, is wonderful. With her typical acting, she gives the role a different dimension. Suresh Oberoi acts extremely ably. Johny Lever brings the house down with his comedy. The guy makes every scene in which he appears, a thoroughly enjoyable one. In particular, the scene in which he prostrates before Archna is excellent.

Navnit Nishan is cute and makes her presence felt. Veeru Krishan is also very good. Farida Jalal acts with perfect restraint. Pramod Moutho is effective. Mohnish Bahl has very little scope but is, nevertheless, natural. Tiku Talsania and master Kunal Khemu lend admirable support. Kalpana Iyer and Pratibha Sinha leave a mark in their appearances in only one song.

If the performances are award-winning, so are the dialogues (Javed Siddique and Dharmesh Darshan). The brilliant performances and the hard-hitting dialogues combine together to make several scenes worthy of thunderous applause. Falling in this category are: (i) Karisma’s announcement that she could forgo not one but a hundred houses for the love of her husband; (ii) Aamir’s tearing of the divorce papers; (iii) Karisma complimenting her father for having cursed her; (iv) Aamir asking his father-in-law to shut up and not interfere between him and his wife; (v) Karisma making her step-mother feel guilty for having misused her title of mother, etc. etc.

Dharmesh Darshan scores in every department — direction, scripting and extracting performances. The best part of his story and narration is that it is totally Indian in content, feel and presentation. His understanding of the medium is masterly and he knows how to blend drama, emotions, romance, comedy and music fruitfully. Here’s another young director who shines on the film firmament and who will be extremely sought-after.

Yet another award-winning department is the music. Nadeem Shravan are in top form and their songs are a virtual delight. The ‘Pardesi pardesi’ number is already a rage and its tune and picturisation (the first version) should draw deafening applause in cinema halls, especially when Kalpana Iyer asks Aamir to sing so that she can dance. The other two versions of the ‘Pardesi’ song are also excellent. Its use in the climax is masterly. ‘Poochho zara poochho’ is also excellently tuned. ‘Aaye ho meri zindagi meini’ has lilt. The blending of ‘Pardesi’ and ‘Aaye ho’ songs at the time of the couple’s separation is intelligent. Sameer’s lyrics also deserve distinction marks. Song picturisations are beautiful.

Action scenes are well composed but, it must be said, the action climax looks a bit out of place. Another sore point is that Aamir Khan has no dialogues to utter in the entire climax. Production values are of a good standard. Background music is appropriate. W.B. Rao’s camerawork is of top class. Editing is sharp.

On the whole, Raja Hindustani is a confirmed super-hit. It has taken a mind-blowing start and, on the strength of ladies and family audience as well as heavy patronage by youngsters, it is poised to create history in the initial weeks — from North to South and East to West.

Released on 14-11-’96 at Metro and on 15-11-’96 at 14 other cinemas of Bombay by Tips Films P. Ltd. and Cineyug thru Shringar Films. Publicity: extraordinary. Opening: bumper. …….Also released all over with fantastic response.

LATEST POSITION

The fanciful and fantastic opening of RAJA HINDUSTANI this week is the best Diwali gift the industry could have asked for. Last week’s GHATAK has also grossed tremendous collections.

Raja Hindustani (released on 11th/12th/13th/14th) has created records almost everywhere. 1st week Baroda (4 days) 100%, Padra (4 days) 1,35,632 (100%), Rajkot (4 days) 74,000, Jamnagar (4 days) 95,136 from 2 cinemas (1 in mat.), Bhuj (3 days) 100%; Pune (4 days) 2,62,704 from 2 cinemas (1 in mat.), Kolhapur (4 days) 100%, Nasik (4 days) 1,84,512 (100%), record; Allahabad (4 days) 85,020 (100%), Bareilly (3 days) 80,267 (100%), Gorakhpur (3 days) 68,800 (100%), theatre record; Nagpur 1st day 1,22,696 from 4 cinemas, Akola (3 days) 75,959 (100%), theatre record, Raipur (2 days) 65,391, Jalgaon (3 days) 1,06,110, Khandesh record, Wardha (3 days) 42,994, theatre record, Chandrapur (3 days) 98,290, city record, Yavatmal (3 days) 42,107 (100%); Bhopal (3 days) 1,96,000 from 3 cinemas.

Ghatak, after a somewhat shaky three days (of pre-Diwali), consolidated its position fabulously and went on to record wonderful collections in 1st week. The 2nd week has also started extremely well. 1st week Bombay 59,87,217 (90.97%) from 16 cinemas (6 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 11,67,218 from 7 cinemas (1 unrecd.), Baroda 91% from 2 cinemas, Bharuch (gross) 2,83,612, Patan (gross) 2,14,886, city record, Jamnagar (mat.) 39,554 (1 in regular unrecd.), Adipur 1,35,251, district record; Pune 16,33,674 from 7 cinemas (1 in mat.), Kolhapur 1,83,078, Satara 1,56,982 (91.57%) from 2 cinemas (1 in mat.), Nasik 2,14,000; Belgaum 2,38,022 from 2 cinemas, record, Nipani 1,16,218; Delhi 44,70,594 (82.86%) from 14 cinemas (1 cinema on F.H.); Kanpur 4,05,691 from 2 cinemas, Agra 2,36,252, Allahabad 1,55,000, Meerut 2,14,007 (100%), theatre record, Bareilly 1,23,687 (67.83%), Gorakhpur 1,49,400 (70.70%); Calcutta 20,34,652 from 15 cinemas; Nagpur 5,61, 818 from 4 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 1,51,039, Amravati 2,54,969 from 2 cinemas, Akola 1,85,444, Raipur (6 days) 1,49,112, Bhilai (6 days) 1,03,000, Durg 1,34,874, city record, Jalgaon 1,70,173, Chandrapur (29 shows) 1,84,191, city record, Yavatmal 1,04,045, Bilaspur 1,64,113; Bhopal (3 days) 2,52,791 from 3 cinemas; Jaipur 6,36,555 from 3 cinemas, Jodhpur 4,24,339, Ajmer 1,22,845 (100%), Bikaner 3,00,541, city record, Kota 1,51,834, Udaipur 100%, Alwar (4 days) 1,34,048; Hyderabad 28,99,947 from 13 cinemas, share 14,91,311.

……….

YOU ASKED IT

Is the bumper opening of Raja Hindustani a result of the Diwali period?

– Only partly. The major credit for the almost unprecedented opening goes to the super-hit Pardesi pardesi song and the film’s promotion and publicity.

Why has Rakshak been postponed by a week?

– According to its maker, Ashok Honda, the theatrical trailers, which are being screened in cinemas from this week only, need to be screened for at least 2 weeks to create the desired impact.

Is it necessary to have a novel subject if the film is to be a hit?

– If there is no novelty in subject, even novelty in presentation/narration can suffice.

IN & OUT OF BOMBAY

Mr. Dayanand Mandre of DRM Combines, Bangalore, will be in Bombay at Hotel Kemp’s Corner (363-4666/4646/4655) from Nov. 18 to 21.

Mr. Omprakash Agarwal of Rekha Movies, Calcutta, will reach Bombay on 18th November.

Mr. Naraindas Mukhija of Shree Navchitra Distributors P. Ltd., Jaipur, is in town (626-0106).

CCCA president Santosh Singh Jain is in Jaipur to attend the meeting of the executive committee of the CCCA.

Mr. N.D. Kabra and Mr. Laloo Kabra of Vishwajyoti Films, Bhusawal, are expected in Bombay early next week.

Producer Mahendra Dhariwal (HATYARA) will reach Bombay (633-2496) tonight (16th November).

K. PAPPU, RAJ KANWAR BEREAVED

Jeet Singh Kanwar, father of producer-directors K. Pappu and Raj Kanwar, expired in Delhi on 11th November. He was 65 and is survived by four sons and a daughter.

WEDDING BELLS FOR PAWAN KUMAR’S SON

A reception to celebrate the wedding of Anil, son of producer Pawan Kumar, with Renu will be held on 26th November at Lokhandwala Garden, Lokhandwala Complex, Andheri (W), Bombay.

GUL ANAND DEAD

Producer and Bombay and Overseas distributor Gul Anand passed away peacefully at his Pune residence following a heart attack on 12th November. He was 55. The marka ceremony was held on 15th at Peddar Road, Bombay.

Gul Anand had made films like Khatta Meetha, Chashme Buddoor, Jalwa and Hero Hiralal. He also continued the Overseas distribution business of his father. Gul considered Amitabh Bachchan his lucky mascot and made sure, his films had a fleeting appearance by the superstar.

Gul was both, a connoisseur of cinema as well as good food. His keen interest in healthy food prompted him to start a delicatessen at his office at Nana Chowk, Bombay. The delicatessen was very popular among the city’s elite. He also produced a serial on the royal dishes, Shahi Daawat, which is being aired on Zee TV. Gul also co-authored a book on food guide of Bombay and Nepal.

At the time of his death, he was producing a television serial which was not yet on air. He also had plans to start a film.

Gul was young at heart and fun-loving. He was very fond of inviting friends over for lunch or dinner which he would himself very painstakingly prepare.

SUBHASH GHAI, SUNIL BANSAL BEREAVED

Akhtar Farooqui, producer of Karz and father-in-law of Subhash Ghai and Rajasthan distributor Sunil Bansal, passed away in Bombay at Nanavati Hospital on 10th November after a brief illness. He was 72. He is survived by two daughters and five sons. The condolence prayers will be held at his Versova residence on 19th November from 7 p.m. onwards.

Quite ironically, his Karz was being telecast on DD-2 at the time of his death.

AKASHDEEP TO WED

Marriage of Akashdeep, son of producer-director Manmohan Sabir, with Sheeba, will be solemnised on 27th November at Hotel Horizon. A reception to celebrate the wedding will be held the same evening.

CENSOR NEWS

Shivam Chitrya’s (Bombay) Chhote Sarkar was given C.C. No. CIL/1/66/96 (U) dt. 14-11-’96; length 4404.97 metres in 18 reels (cuts: 61.82 metres).

Vishesh Films P. Ltd.’s Dastak was given C.C. No. CIL/3/37/96 (A) dt. 8-11-’96; length 4072.74 metres in 16 reels (minor deletion in sound only).

INDIAN ENGLISH FILMS

Mirabai Films’ Kama Sutra: A Tale Of Love was seen by the revising committee on 14th.

ANNOUNCEMENT & LAUNCHING

Salman To Start Film Starring Himself, Kajol, Arbaaz

Salman Khan’s production banner, G.S. Entertainment, will launch its first venture starring Salman Khan, Kajol and Arbaaz Khan in lead roles, on Nov. 19 with a song recording at Sunny Super Sounds. Sohail Khan directs the film which is being produced jointly by Guneet Walia and Sohail Khan. A Vashu Bhagnani presentation, it has music by Jatin Lalit. Lyrics: Sameer. Action: Mahendra Verma. Art: Sharmishtha Roy. Editing: Muthu. The first shooting schedule will begin from December 20.

Bokadia’s ‘Lal Badshah’ To Roll On 17th

Producer-director K.C. Bokadia’s Lal Badshah will mount the sets on Nov. 17 on a set at Film City. It stars Amitabh Bachchan, Manisha Koirala, Shilpa Shetty, Amrish Puri, Mukesh Rishi and others. Music is scored by Aadesh Srivastava.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Instant Reaction

Producers being producers, they will never miss an opportunity to hike the prices of their films even if the hike is merely in their thoughts. No sooner did Raja Hindustani release this week to bumper houses than one producer telephoned us to enquire whether he could get a price of Rs. 3 crore for his almost complete star-studded project. “2 crore is old story now. Business has increased so much so fast that films should now be sold at higher prices,” said the producer. Whether business has shot up “so fast” or not, one doesn’t know, but what definitely is “so fast” is the reaction of producers to any hit.

‘Kama Sutra’: A Tale Of Trouble

Mira Nair’s Kama Sutra: A Tale Of Love is in censor trouble. The examining committee of the CBFC offered a number of cuts which Mira reportedly accepted. But the committee had a change of mind and instead refused certificate to the film. In spite of Mira Nair’s acceptance of the cuts, the film was referred to the revising committee. Probably, the members of the examining committee developed cold feet because of the nature of the film and decided to play safe and let the revising committee take the decision. When CBFC chairman Shakti Samanta was asked to see the film, he is reported to have said, “I don’t see films as a matter of principle.”

Marital Problems? No Problem!

If you meet Boney Kapoor in the near future, don’t be surprised if you find him in his elements. Boney is thrilled because three major hits of this year — Raja Hindustani, Saajan Chale Sasural and Agni Sakshi — have one thing in common: problems in the married lives of the hero (heroes) and heroine (heroines). So why should Boney Kapoor be happy about this common problem, you might ask. Well, it’s because his forthcoming film, Judaai, is also the story of one man who has two wives, and the problems that follow.

Dancing Dames

Yet another common point — not in the three hits of this year but in two films released recently and one forthcoming film. They all have one song-dance number picturised on a well-known heroine who is seen in that film in just that song. Ghatak has Mamta Kulkarni dancing with dance director Ganesh in Maara re. In Raja Hindustani, one gets to see Pratibha Sinha in the Pardesi pardesi number. And in Rakshak will be seen Raveena Tandon in the Shaher ki ladki song-dance.

Mathematical Logic

When a film bombs, there’s no dearth of sarcastic comments which make the rounds in trade circles. But one got to hear some really good ones when Raja Hindustani proved a hit on day one itself. Said a smart Alec, “Raja Hindustani in Bombay will do business equal to that of Raja plus Hindustani.” Touch wood! An exhibitor, referring to the hit business of Raja Hindustani and Ghatak, remarked, “History is repeating itself. In 1990, it was Aamir Khan’s Dil and Sunny Deol’s Ghayal, which were released on the same day, and both went on to become hits. Now, six years later, it is Sunny’s Ghatak and Aamir’s Raja Hindustani. They were released almost simultaneously — the former on 8th November, and the latter on 11th.”

JUDWAA

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

YESHWANT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SANTOSH SINGH JAIN’S GRANDSON TO WED

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

GOGA KAPOOR’S DAUGHTER TO WED

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

RAMESH JAIN’S SON TO WED

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

NITIN GHELANI’S DAUGHTER TO WED

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

KISHORE SINGH DEAD

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

ARREST WARRANT

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

NEW CINEMA IN BOMBAY

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

NO DIRECTIONS ON ENT. TAX YET

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

DO YOU KNOW?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

YOU ASKED IT

Will 1997 see a fall in film prices?

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

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

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

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

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

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

– Why not?

MIX MASALA

FAMILY DRAMA

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

NOT SIMULTANEOUS RELEASE NOW

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

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

STOP VIDEO PIRACY

Dear Sir,

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

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

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

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

– Shyamlal Malviya
Janta Talkies
Maheshwar.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Black Is Beautiful

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

Stars’ Favourite Too

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

Title Tattle

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

Trial Habits

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

GRAFFITI

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

“….JAANEWALE KI YAAD AATI HAI“
RAJENDRA KUMAR BIDS ADIEU

Jubilee star Rajendra Kumar Tuli, who dominated the film scene from the mid-fifties to the seventies, passed away on 12th July at 3.30 a.m. at Breach Candy Hospital, Bombay, where he had been admitted ten days earlier for respiratory and cardiac complications and a blood ailment. He was 71 and is survived by his wife, son Kumar Gaurav and two daughters.

The funeral, held the same afternoon at the Santacruz crematorium, was attended by a large number of film celebrities, friends and relatives including Sunil Dutt, B.R. Chopra, Yash Chopra, Ramanand Sagar, Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Mohan Kumar, Naushad, Feroz Khan, Randhir Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor, Manoj Kumar, Rakesh Roshan, Rajesh Roshan, Dara Singh, Chandrashekhar and others.

“Jaanewale kabhi nahin aate
Jaanewale ki yaad aati hai.”

One remembered these memorable lines of late Shailendra, during the final journey of the gentleman star Rajendra Kumar on July 12.

A partition refugee from Sialkot (Pakistan), Rajendra Kumar’s transition to stardom would read like a story of a comic-book hero. Those were the days when Dilip Kumar was the undisputed star. Rajendra Kumar appeared as an extra with Dilip Kumar in Mela (1948) and Devdas (1955) while working as an assistant to director H.S. Rawail. His passport to the industry was a letter of introduction for Rajinder Krishen.

Devendra Goel spotted Rajendra Kumar’s talent for acting and ventured to cast him as lead man in Vachan (1955). Fate ordained him with a spate of jubilees and successes beginning with director Vijay Bhatt’s Goonj Uthi Shehnai (1959), followed in the same year by Devendra Goel’s Chirag Kahan Roshni Kahan, B.R. Chopra’s Dhool Ka Phool (directed by Yash Chopra), director Kedar Kapoor’s Do Behnen and director Jyoti Swaroop’s Santan. There was no looking back after that. The hits that followed in later years were Aas Ka Panchhi, Gharana, Kanoon, Mere Mehboob, Gehra Daag, Sasural, Hamrahi, Aayee Milan Ki Bela, Dil Ek Mandir, Arzoo, Sangam, Zindagi, Suraj, Ganwaar, Gora Aur Kala, Aap Aaye Bahar Aayee, Anjana, Talash and Geet. He had also acted in Mehboob’s Mother India (1957) and a Gujarati super-hit, Mehendi Rang Lagyo (opposite Usha Kiron). Rajendra Kumar turned a producer with Love Story (1981) and launched his son, Kumar Gaurav, as the lead main in it. He had also produced Naam, Jurrat and Phool.

Rajendra Kumar, also known as Jubilee Kumar because a large number of his films turned out to be jubilee hits, was a wise investor. He constructed the Dimple preview theatre and personally used to oversee its maintenance. He also invested in film shooting equipments like cameras and lights. However, due to his simple and unostentatious lifestye, he was dubbed “tight-fisted”.

A well-known fact about Rajendra Kumar is that he was repeated by his producers in Bombay as well as in South, like B.R. Chopra (Kanoon and Dhool Ka Phool), S.S. Vasan of Gemini (Zindagi, Gharana and Shatranj), Sridhar (Dil Ek Mandir and Dharti), Ramanand Sagar (Arzoo, Geet and Lalkar), L.V. Prasad (Sasural and Hamrahi), Venus Krishnamoorthy (Suraj and Saathi), Devendra Goel (Vachan, Pyar Ka Sagar and Chirag Kahan Roshni Kahan), O.P. Ralhan (Gehra Daag and Talash) and Raj Kapoor (Sangam and Mera Naam Joker). Mohan Kumar made five films with him — Aas Ka Panchhi, Aayee Milan Ki Bela, Aman, Anjana and Aap Aaye Bahar Aayee — and the two remained great friends till the end.

Among the many who paid fulsome tributes to Rajendra Kumar were Naushad who said, “He was a simple-hearted gentleman and a talented actor.” Producer S. Raamanathan described him as “a man of fine human qualities, who was a great favourite with South producers. He used to be very co-operative and never behaved like an arrogant star.”

Prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee condoled the death of Rajendra Kumar and expressed profound grief. I & B minister Pramod Mahajan expressed his grief saying, “The world of cinema has become poorer by his death.” State minister for I & B, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, said, “The death of the veteran actor, who swayed the emotions of the cinegoers, is a great loss to the industry.” B.R. Chopra, who cried when he visited Rajendra Kumar’s house on hearing the news of his demise, said that he (Rajendra Kumar) gave very good performances in his two films, Dhool Ka Phool and Kanoon. Mohan Kumar, a close friend of Rajendra, said, “I had worked with him in five films and all of them were hits. He took success in his stride and never let it go to his head. He was a great person and was liked by everyone.” Ramanand Sagar said, “I am proud that out of 25 silver jubilee hits he gave, I had a share of four precious films.” Ashok Kumar, who worked with Rajendra Kumar in a number of films, had a very close relationship with him and began to cry on hearing the news of his death. He said, “I have no words to express my feelings for him.” Shammi Kapoor paid his respects saying, “He was a fine person and a fine actor. The film industry is indebted to him for his immense contribution.”

LATEST POSITION

MANN suffered a lot on account of its poor editing. Yet, first week collections at many places were brilliant. The makers have deleted scenes and two songs (total running time reduced is 29 minutes) but the re-editing seems to have been effected too late in the day.

Mann began to drop mid-week. It is dull in Bihar, C.I. and Rajasthan. 1st week Bombay 66,51,187 (95.75%) from 12 cinemas; Ahmedabad 22,11,239 from 4 cinemas, Padra 2,23,513, Vapi 6,49,904, Rajkot (mat.) 54,505 (1 unrecd.), Jamnagar 1,65,683 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Pune 14,73,353 from 4 cinemas (1 in mat.), Kolhapur 2,56,519, Solapur 3,99,085 from 2 cinemas, Sangli 2,03,000 (95%), Miraj 1,26,000 (92%), Islampur 1,72,151; Delhi 60,89,610 (93.17%) from 11 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 6,47,423 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 5,19,606, full, Agra 3,62,222, Allahabad 2,41,950, Meerut 2,77,311, Bareilly (6 days) 1,66,297 (64.04%), Hardwar 1,26,206, Saharanpur 2,00,006; Calcutta 42,63,319 from 24 cinemas; Nagpur 13,42,667 from 5 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 2,00,062, Amravati (5 days) 2,13,474, Akola 2,51,770, Raipur (6 days; gross) 3,47,886, Durg 1,22,661, Jalgaon 2,75,325, Rajnandgaon (6 days) 1,03,000, Chandrapur 1,99,391; Indore 3,12,084 (3 cinemas on F.H.), Bhopal 1,89,993 (1 on F.H.); Jaipur 11,17,674 from 4 cinemas, Bikaner 2,42,328; Hyderabad (gross) 45,28,309 from 18 cinemas (2 in noon), total share of 7 districts is over 40 lakh; Vijayawada (gross) 2,98,998.

Khaufnaak Raat 1st week Bombay 5,23,420 (42.29%) from 4 cinemas; 2nd week Delhi 86,231.

Benaam 2nd week Bombay 3,93,205 (47.29%) from 4 cinemas; Ahmedabad 28,157; 1st week Pune 2,72,329 from 3 cinemas; 2nd Delhi 1,64,420 from 2 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Kanpur 30,189, Agra 39,131, Allahabad 15,885, 1st Bareilly 55,087 (24.64%); 2nd Calcutta 70,300; 1st Nagpur 1,50,115 from 2 cinemas; Bhopal 82,765; Bikaner 40,171.

Haseena Maan Jaayegi 3rd week Bombay 28,66,379 (71.14%) from 8 cinemas; Ahmedabad 6,54,095 from 6 cinemas, Rajkot 89,313, Jamnagar (mat.) 9,566 (1 unrecd.); Pune 6,04,186 from 4 cinemas (1 in mat.), Solapur 1,39,261 from 2 cinemas (1 in mat.); Delhi 26,91,866 from 8 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Kanpur 2,95,750 from 3 cinemas, Lucknow 2,95,804, Agra 2,20,000, Allahabad 1,35,547; Calcutta 2,34,674; Nagpur 98,004, Jabalpur 92,412, Amravati (6 days) 1,09,722, Akola (27 shows) 1,00,007, Raipur (gross) 1,70,295, Durg (gross) 41,484, Jalgaon 94,000; Indore 1,18,874 (1 on F.H.), Bhopal 2,08,263 from 2 cinemas; Jaipur 2,69,398, Ajmer 87,958, Bikaner 1,25,210; Hyderabad (gross) 6,03,599 from 4 cinemas.

Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam 4th week Bombay 49,39,255 (84.34%) from 11 cinemas; Ahmedabad 15,65,941 from 5 cinemas, Vapi 1,62,326, Rajkot 1,75,560 from 2 cinemas (1 in mat.), Jamnagar 70,364, Adipur 1,34,103; Pune 8,25,378 from 4 cinemas; Delhi 21,50,359 from 9 cinemas; Kanpur (6 days) 1,68,240 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 3,86,898, Agra 2,05,011, Allahabad 80,622, Bareilly (6 days) 46,033; Calcutta 7,70,466 from 7 cinemas; Nagpur 1,55,534 from 2 cinemas, 2nd Jabalpur 2,45,967, 4th Amravati (6 days) 1,28,255, Akola 1,05,512, Raipur (6 days; gross) 1,76,697, 3rd Wardha 39,905, 4th Chandrapur 48,234; Indore 1,16,217, Bhopal 1,44,860; Hyderabad (gross) 4,46,865 from 3 cinemas (1 in noon).

Mahashaktimaan (dubbed) is fair. (Its English version, The Matrix, is excellent.) 1st week Ahmedabad 1,34,387 (57%), Baroda 93,412 (82%); Kolhapur 86,536 (35%), Solapur 1,33,263 (89%), Sangli 84,686 (46%), Ichalkaranji 68,731 (50%), Malegaon 53,966 (48%); Belgaum 65,356 (82%); Indore 77,896 (40%); Aurangabad 1,20,990 (49%).

_____

Bindhast (Marathi; tax-free) 4th week Bombay 11,80,793 (52.46%) from 8 cinemas; Pune 1,15,678, Solapur 46,237.

ADITYA PANCHOLI ARRESTED, FREED ON BAIL

Aditya Pancholi was put in police lock-up at Santacruz (Bombay) on the morning of 15th July for injuring two police constables in a car accident at 1.30 a.m. According to the police, Aditya Pancholi was driving in an inebriated state. He is said to have first hit the motorcycle of the police constables, then an autorickshaw and then a dumper truck. Pancholi told the police that he had not committed any criminal act and that it was an accident. He was freed on bail the same day.

BHOOMI PUJA OF TWO CINEMAS IN SHIVPURI

Premnarayan and Radheshyam Rathod alias Munia performed bhoomi puja for two cinemas at Shivpuri. The puja was performed at the hands of Gajanand Patel. Munia already owns Shriram Smriti, Jyoti Talkies and Satyam Talkies at Guna; Laxmi Mandir and Mahesh Mandir at Ashok Nagar; and Laxmi Talkies at Aron.

The two cinemas at Shivpuri will come up within six months, according to Munia, who is also planning to construct some more cinemas at other centres of C.I.

ASHOK VASHODIA APPOINTED SECRETARY TO HRITHIK

Ashok Vashodia has joined as secretary to Hrithik Roshan. He can be contacted on phone nos. 631-4362 (residence) and 649-2352/605-0393 (office). Cellphone: 98200-45797. Fax: 605-0391.

YOU ASKED IT

Which is the most ideal and cost-effective medium for a film’s release publicity?

– The most cost-effective is paper publicity but the most effective is, of course, the television medium.

What is the difference between the Kargil war heroes and our film heroes?

– While the Kargil hero fights for defending the line of control (LoC), the film hero fights for his price and knows no line of control!

What do you predict for the second half of the year?

– It will be good, very good. So relax!

Among the old-time directors, who is still going strong?

– Only Yash Chopra. Who else?

DO YOU KNOW?

* The already big screen of Metro, Bombay, will assume a bigger dimension for the screening of Subhash Ghai’s TAAL. The screen will become bigger by 33% in keeping with the film’s grandeur. The screen is being changed by the cinema after a gap of 42 years.

* After playing football in New Delhi, cricket stars will take on the Bengali film stars for the benefit of army jawans’ welfare on August 8 in Calcutta. Organised by Eastern India Motion Pictures Association (EIMPA) in collaboration with the Federation of technicians and workers of Tollygunge, the match will feature Mithun Chakraborty, Prasenjit, Ranjit Mullick and company on one side and cricketers Kapil Dev, Ajay Jadeja, Laxmi Ratan Shukla and, of course, Saurav Ganguly and company on the other. In Calcutta, it will be cricket.

* In an effort to show solidarity with our jawans in Kargil, producer K.P. Singh and director Kundan Shah called off a day’s shooting of HUM TO MOHABBAT KAREGA last week in Hyderabad, to participate in a special rally arranged by the Andhra Pradesh Film Chamber of Commerce. The entire unit, including stars Bobby Deol and Karisma Kapoor, spent the day collecting funds for the noble cause.

* For the first time ever in the history of Gujarati films, a father and son are being pitted against each other at the box-office. This week’s Gujarati releases have father Naresh Kanodia (in MAN SAAYBA NI MEDIYE) and son Hitoo Kanodia (in SENTHI NU SINDOOR)!

MIX MASALA

ACHIEVEMENT INDEED!

The other day, we received a telephone call from a rather jubilant producer of a Mithun starrer. “God, I am so happy!”, he gushed over the phone. We would have thought that his film had become a hit at the ticket-windows or something, but then… So, what was the reason behind his ecstacy, we probed. “My film has not run into a single delivery problem,” he exclaimed, adding, “Saari deliveries smoothly ho gayee. That’s cause for celebration.” Yes, if it’s a Mithun starrer these days, we guess, smooth deliveries themselves are an achievement!

Many Important Awards For Hindi Films

---

‘KUCH KUCH HOTA HAI’ BAGS NATIONAL AWARD
‘Godmother’ Picks up Six

Yash Johar’s Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, with which son Karan Johar made a remarkable debut as director, has bagged the National Award for the best popular film providing wholesome entertainment. It has also won the best singer (female) award for Alka Yagnik.

Shyam Benegal’s Samar has been adjudged the best film. It has also bagged the best screenplay award for Ashok Mishra.

Ajay Devgan shared the best actor award for his performance in Zakhm with Mammootty for his enactment of the title role in Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar (English), directed by Dr. Jabbar Patel. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar has also bagged the best art direction award for Nitin Desai.

Godmother, directed by Vinay Shukla, won the best actress award for Shabana Azmi. The film also won the best feature film award in Hindi in the language category. It has won four other awards: best lyrics (Maati re maati) award for Javed Akhtar; best music for Vishal Bhardwaj; best singer (male) for Sanjeev Abhyankar; and best editing award for Renu Saluja. In all, Godmother has bagged six awards.

The Nargis Dutt award for the best film on national integration has been won by Zakhm, produced by Pooja Bhatt.

The best supporting actor award has gone to Manoj Bajpayee for Satya, and the best supporting actress award, to Suhasini Mulay for Hu Tu Tu.

Mani Ratnam’s Dil Se.. has won two awards: for best cinematography (Santosh Sivan) and for best audiography (R. Sridhar).

It is after a gap of several years that Hindi films in 1998 have bagged most of the important awards.

OTHER AWARDS

Besides winning the best cinematography award for Dil Se.., Santosh Sivan has bagged an award for direction for Malli (Tamil) which has been selected as the best environmental film. Malli has also won an award for child artiste baby Amma (Shwetha).

Rajeevnath has won the best director award for Janani (Malayalam). The Indira Gandhi award for the first film of a director has gone to Venu for Daya (Malayalam) which also won the best costume award for S.B. Satheesan.

The best children’s film award has been won by Virendra Saini for Kabhi Pass Kabhi Fail. Raja Sen’s Atmiyo Swajan (Bengali) has won an award for the best film on family welfare. Chintavishtayaya Shyamala (Malayalam) has got an award for portraying a woman’s struggle.

The 46th National Film Awards were announced at a press conference in New Delhi on July 16. Information and Broadcasting minister Pramod Mahajan and chairpersons of the various juries addressed the conference. Minister of state for I & B Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi was also present.

A record number of 114 feature and non-feature films in different Indian languages and English were viewed by a jury headed by D.V.S. Raju. Shaji N. Karun headed the non-feature jury. M.T. Vasudevan Nair headed the jury to select the best book on cinema and best cinema journalist.

BEST BOOK

In The Forest Hangs A Bridge won the best non-feature film award while Dr. Kishore Vaswani’s Cinemaee Bhasha Aur Hindi Samvaadon Ka Vishleshan was adjudged the best book on cinema. Meenakshi Shedde was chosen the best film critic.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Cut Short

Following the release of Mann last Friday, producer-director Indra Kumar and producer Ashok Thakeria took off for London and New York for the film’s premiere shows there. But after reaching London, Indra Kumar had to cut his trip short and return to India — to shorten the film! In keeping with the general consensus, Indra Kumar went a-trimming. And he finally effected cuts to the extent of 29 minutes! Two songs have been completely chopped off and scenes/shots of a total running time of 19 minutes have been thrown off.

Curiously enough — well, actually, not so curiously, after all — some distributors did not even wait for Indra Kumar’s advice. They exercised the cuts, apne mann se!

Operation Oppositions

Producers are wary of releasing their films in the face of oppositions. And what exactly constitutes an opposition? Well, for decades now, anything and everything, so to say, is construed an opposition to the box-office. Ramzan is an opposition, rains are an opposition, so are examinations, so is television, so are pre-Diwali days, so are Navratri days (especially in Gujarat and Maharashtra) and so also Ganpati festival (in parts of Maharashtra and, these days, in other states too). There are plenty of other oppositions too. But actually, after Vashu Bhagnani braved the World Cup cricket and brought his Biwi No. 1 in direct opposition of the event, is any opposition really an opposition? The collections of Biwi No. 1 were phenomenal all through the cricket days. That India did not enter the final could be one reason, but what about the days when India was still in the race? It would, therefore, be in the fitness of things if producers and distributors did some rethinking on the issue of oppositions and deduced whether it is actually right to keep their films away from the so-called oppositions and select release dates that don’t clash with the oppositions.

The ‘Taal’ Tale

When will Taal see release? And when should it be released? The answers to both the questions cannot be given definitively as of now because of the following given situation:

Subhash Ghai was in a fix whether to get Taal on August 6. His distributors insisted that Ghai should release Taal on 6th. That’s because if Taal were to be postponed, the distributors would have to let go of the chain of cinemas booked in their circuits and would, obviously, not be able to get a new chain that would be good enough, because of the line-up of releases.

So, Subhash Ghai, as of now, is determined to release Taal on 6th.

But exhibitors and others, who wish well for Subhash Ghai, are strongly of the opinion that Taal should not come on 6th. Why? They think that the promotion of ‘the beat of passion’ is yet to reach a crescendo which may not be possible till 6th August.

Many voices and whispers in the trade seem to strongly suggest, “Let the promotion be in sur and taal with the big canvas of the film!”

Dimple Luck

Rajendra Kumar’s daughter, Dimple, was undoubtedly his lucky mascot. And this can be proved by two examples. Before he built himself a new bungalow on Pali Hill, Bandra, he used to live in a bungalow on Carter Road, which was known as Dimple House. Till the time he lived in Dimple House, he rolled in great luck. One after the other, his films used to click and, as an actor, he was in great demand. It was only after he reluctantly sold the bungalow to Rajesh Khanna that Rajendra Kumar moved to his new bungalow at Pali Hill. Incidentally, when Rajendra Kumar sold the bungalow to Rajesh Khanna, he laid down a condition that the bungalow’s name be changed. Rajesh Khanna, therefore, changed it to ‘Aashirwad’. As fate would have it, Rajesh Khanna was to ultimately marry a girl named Dimple.

Much later, Rajendra Kumar constructed, with great love, the ultra-modern preview theatre, which he named ‘Dimple’, in his bungalow premises. This preview theatre is a great favourite of the industry folks even today.

It was a common sight to see the man taking a round of his preview theatre every evening and inspecting every nook and corner of the floor. If he found anything littered there, he would himself pick up the litter and throw it in the dustbin. Why, one even remembers seeing him keeping the bathroom slippers in their place! So much did he care for ‘Dimple’, the name that spelt luck for the jubilee star!

Title Of The Week

Bhooton Ka Honeymoon!

What The Left Hand Does…

So often do we observe — quite hilariously, might we add — how different government agencies take ridiculously contrasting stances on the same issue. Mahesh Bhatt’s Zakhm has bagged the Nargis Dutt National Award for 1998 for the best film on national integration. But wait a minute! How can that be? After all, wasn’t it another government agency — the CBFC, of course — which had not so long ago objected to the communal angle in the same film? Perhaps, there is some logic in the manner in which the government thinks, but try as we may, we fail to see any. Quite often, as in this instance, it seems to be just a case of — what the left hand does, the right hand does not know!

Gujarat Ma Hit Ne Halol Ma Jalso!

Lucky Studios at Halol (in Gujarat) looked decorated for a marriage. The excitement in the atmosphere was no less than what one witnesses at a weddinig. Well, in a way, the occasion was also a celebration of a marriage — top Gujarati film producer-director Govindbhai Patel’s marriage to success! For years now, the two — Govindbhai and Success — have lived like man and wife, inseparable, made-for-each-other.

After producing several hits almost in a row, Govindbhai delivered his biggest hit last year when his Desh Re Joya Dada Pardesh Joya hit the screens and simultaneously, the bull’s eye. The film went on to write new box-office history not just in Gujarat and Saurashtra but in Overseas, too. Not just the masses which usually patronise Gujarati films, this one, for the first time, also brought classes by the bulk to the cinemas. If the film became a blockbuster, its music, too, made the cash registers jingle as never before.

It was the celebration of the golden jubilee of Desh Re Joya Dada Pardesh Joya for which Lucky Studios on 13th July was bedecked like a bride. Govindbhai Patel, who turned a director with DRJDPJ, was a picture of humility as he, with his equally humble family, welcomed the guests who had come from all over Gujarat and Saurashtra to partake in the jubilee function which was preceded by the muhurt of Govindbhai’s next, Gaam Ma Piyaryu Ne Gaam Ma Sasaryu.

Rajeshbhai of Galaxy Pictures, Rajkot, sounded the clapper-board for the muhurt shot as Jeevanbhai Patel and Mrs. Govindbhai Patel cracked the auspicious coconuts, and Komal Nahta, editor of Film Information, switched on the camera. Govindbhai himself directed the first shot — a dramatic one — on Roma Manik and Hiten Kumar. The film stars four more heroes (Sameer Rajda and three others) and four other heroines of which one, Nandini, will be introduced in the film. Another new face in the film will be Heera alias Hiralal Thakkar who is a name to reckon with on Gujarati stage. Govindbhai had approached Alok Nath and Paresh Rawal for the role but, unable to get their bulk dates, he ultimately opted for Hiralal Thakkar and is more than happy with his choice.

Muhurt and lunch over, the latter part of the day was devoted to the jubilee celebrations. Govindbhai had got made trophies for every cinema where the film had had a meritorious run (and they were plenty) and every music shop which recorded outstanding sales of DRJDPJ audio cassettes, besides the film’s artistes, technicians and spot boys. Most of the trophies were presented by the lead pair of DRJDPJ, Roma Manik and Hiten Kumar. Govindbhai made an exception in the case of the trophy of late actor Narayan Rajgor who died last year following a freak accident on the sets of Desh Re Joya Dada Pardesh Joya. In fact, the function started with Govindbhai paying tributes to his “dear friend Narayan Kaka”. He could barely complete two sentences of his opening address when he burst into tears. In a quivering voice and with tears rolling down his cheeks, Govindbhai managed to convey to the audience that he would start off the trophy distribution function by personally presenting Narayan Kaka’s trophy to his son, Manish. A tearful Manish Rajgor came up on the dais and accepted the trophy even as several persons on the dais and in the audience were seen wiping their moistened eyes.

After the function, Govindbhai explained how thrilled he was because God had showered blessings on his new film in the form of rains which poured as soon as the muhurt shot was canned! Govindbhai also let us in to the secret of his success. “I do my home-work thoroughly before shooting begins,” he revealed and added, “God is great. He has been very obliging towards me.” And for GMPNGMS, Govindbhai will be immersed in its shooting for 50 days now. Before the shooting, he has had his script (story and screenplay are by Govindbhai himself, while the dialogues have been penned by Arvind Barot who is also the film’s lyricist and music director) cent per cent ready. Why, Govindbhai even plans to mix the film in Dolby sound, which will make this as the first Gujarati film in Dolby sound. For this, he has had detailed technical discussions so that due care may be taken while shooting. It was exhibitors D.Y. Pattani, Balaporia and Girishbhai, who prevailed upon Govindbhai to make his new film with Dolby sound. “The three of them volunteered to lend me some lakhs for the Dolby mixing and were willing to forgo the amount if the film did not do well when released!”, disclosed an ecstatic Govindbhai.

GMPNGMS will also be made in Marathi but Govindbhai will shoot the Marathi version after about 20 days of completing the Gujarati version’s shooting. And then, he will make the Rajasthani version of Desh Re Joya Dada Pardesh Joya. And one fine day, Govindbhai might just make a Hindi film too. “If I ever do so, it will be with Aamir Khan,” he smiles.

– Komal Nahta

DO AANKHEN BARAH HATH

Sri Nirmaladevi Combines’ Do Aankhen Barah Hath (UA) is a masala film which has some romance, drama, revenge, separation, comedy, action, dances etc. But none of the abovesaid ingredients offers anything new or exciting. A boy-child is deserted by his mother for fear that her brother would kill him. He grows up and gets entangled in a love triangle. There are villains out to kill him; however, he manages to not only save himself but also wipe out the evil men and unite with his mother. He gets married to his beloved too.

If the story is routine, the screenplay has been childishly written without caring for logic. The film has taken too long in the making and the delay shows. Double-meaning dialogues, which constitute the comedy, would appeal to the front-benchers.

Govinda enacts a role which doesn’t suit his current status. All the same, he does well except in some scenes where he overacts. Both the heroines give poor accounts of themselves. Madhuvanti makes a disastrous debut, with neither the looks nor talent of a heroine. Roopali also does not impress. Aroona Irani does a fair job as Govinda’s mother. Johny Lever, Harish Patel, Asrani and Liliput provide light moments. Sadashiv Amarapurkar does a reasonably good job. Kiran Kumar is quite nice. Raman Khatri is average. Ishrat Ali, Arjun and Jack Gaud alongwith Anil Dhawan and the rest of the cast lend average support.

Direction (Kirti Kumar) is no better than the script. The director seems to have lost all interest in the film during its making. Music is good. ‘Mile jo tere naina’ and ‘Kasam se kasam se’ are melodious. Song picturisations give the film a dated look. Action scenes are so-so. Camerawork is okay. Production values are below the mark. Dialogues are passable.

On the whole, Do Aankhen Barah Hath is a dull and stale fare which will prove a burden for all concerned.

Released on 11-7-’97 at Alankar and 14 other cinemas of Bombay thru Shree Vijayraj Pictures. Publicity: average. Opening: below average. …….Also released all over to dull houses.

MRITYUDAND

Prakash Jha Productions’ Mrityudand (UA) is the story of three women in a village of Bihar. Male chauvinism is at its peak in this backward village where women are treated as pieces of furniture. The three women in the story dare to protest and break the myth that it is the wont of women to suffer in silence.

The story is different and forward-looking. Although the screenplay is well-written, the drama often moves at a terribly slow pace. References to business, business rivalry, government’s reservation policy etc. give the film a flavour that restricts its appeal to the class audience. Further, although the feeling one gets as the drama unfolds is that it deals with the upliftment of womenfolk in general, the film actually finally turns out to be a personal vendetta of the three women in particular. This dilutes the impact of the drama. The revolt of the ladies, moreover, is subdued and lacks fire which was needed to draw applause. Yes, a few scenes will evoke claps but not the climax. Dialogues are brilliant and very bold but only at places. The Bihari flavour has been brought across beautifully and the language spoken by the characters makes the atmosphere realistic. Climax should have been more fiery.

Performances are first rate. Shabana Azmi lives the role of the suffering-in-silence daughter-in-law and humiliated wife who ultimately revolts by throwing all myths to the winds. She gives a remarkable performance and does not overact even one bit. Madhuri Dixit does a splendid job as the educated younger daughter-in-law. She acts with effortless ease and should win accolades and awards for the excellent portrayal. She also looks beautiful. Ayub Khan is restrained as Madhuri’s husband, and impresses a lot. Shilpa Shirodkar is natural to the core. Mohan Joshi excels as the villain and evokes instant hatred. Om Puri is too good. Mohan Agashe plays his character with aplomb. Pyare Mohan leaves a very good impression. Harish Patel does an efficient job. Brij Gopal, Abha Dhulia, Achyut Potdar and the rest lend admirable support.

Given the story, Prakash Jha’s narration is very good. But he should have balanced the tense drama with some comedy and romance to make the film universally appealing. He, however, deserves distinction marks for extracting wonderful performances from his entire team. Three scenes — one in which Madhuri Dixit asks her husband not to behave like a God, one in which Shabana Azmi openly exposes her husband’s impotence, and the one in which Shilpa Shirodkar calls Mohan Joshi a pimp — have been shot exceptionally well and will evoke claps. But the fact remains that the film has very limited appeal as it moves on just one track which also lacks entertainment value. Of the songs, ‘Kehdo ek baar sajna’ is extremely hummable, but a couple of other songs are very dull, though, thankfully, short. Picturisations of two songs are good. Background music (Raghunath Seth) is superb. Camerawork (Rajen Kothari) is fantastic. Technically, very nice.

On the whole, Mrityudand is a film for very select cinemas in select cities only, because it has an inherent ‘class’ appeal, being too serious a film and devoid of regular masala like hit music, comedy, romance etc. It will, therefore, entail losses to most of its distributors. Its Bihari flavour may help it in Bihar. Tax exemption (the film is tax-free in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh) will help to an extent.

Released on 10-7-’97 at Metro (matinee) and on 11-7-’97 at Novelty and 12 other cinemas of Bombay by Vimal Agarwal and Cineyug thru R.M. Ahuja & Co. Publicity: good. Opening: fair. …….Also released all over. Opening was dull almost everywhere.

LATEST POSITION

GUPT has recorded extraordinary collections in 1st week except in C.I. Heavy rains in different parts (Bombay, Maharashtra, Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh etc.) affected collections during the week.

Gupt has done tremendous business in 1st week. Cinemas screening DTS prints are drawing unprecedented crowds. 1st week Bombay 46,81,379 (98.16%) from 12 cinemas (10 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 16,55,279 from 6 cinemas, Anand 5,05,450, Nadiad 3,97,325, Palanpur 2,09,254, Padra 2,80,068, Mehsana 2,36,275, Valsad 3,43,513 (92.75%), Bharuch (gross) 3,48,880 (100%), Rajkot 1,79,000 (100%), Jamnagar 1,52,097 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Pune 12,34,611 from 6 cinemas (1 in matinee), Kolhapur 1,77,338, Solapur 4,31,850 from 2 cinemas; Hubli 100%, Belgaum 100%, Dharwad 100%; Delhi 49,33,354 (92.23%) from 13 cinemas (3 on F.H.); Kanpur 5,39,052 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 3,11,307 (100%), Allahabad 1,53,953, Varanasi 1,87,113, Meerut 2,34,731 (100%), Bareilly 1,71,200 (77.97%), Dehradun 1,84,552 (77.87%), Gorakhpur 1,62,000 (88.89%); Calcutta 37,31,102 from 27 cinemas (of these 14 cinemas are for 6 days; 15 on F.H.); Guwahati about 2,83,000 from 6 cinemas; Nagpur 10,68,286 from 5 cinemas, Akola 1,78,020, Raipur 2,35,647 (97.31%), Bhilai 1,71,000 (1 unrecd.), Chandrapur 1,87,657, Yavatmal 1,30,198; Indore 4,20,000 from 2 cinemas (2 on F.H.), Bhopal 5,25,308 from 3 cinemas; Jaipur 13,03,987 from 4 cinemas, Bikaner 3,22,280 (100%), Udaipur 2,18,600; Hyderabad 39,76,909 from 17 cinemas, share 21,96,375, Aurangabad share 3,85,000; Bangalore 12,70,000 (100%) from 7 cinemas, Davangere 100%, share 1,30,000; Vijayawada 3,20,670 (100%), Kurnool 98,490; Madras 100%.

……….

Border (TF) 4th week Bombay 41,77,264 (91.49%) from 12 cinemas (9 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 3,97,566 from 3 cinemas (1 unrecd.), Baroda 1,61,802, Rajkot 1,62,342, Jamnagar 81,310, Adipur 85,110, 1st week Bhuj 1,46,970; 4th Pune (TF) 6,01,313 from 3 cinemas, Kolhapur (TF) 1,87,163, Solapur (TF) 1,28,544 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Hubli 79,857, Belgaum 59,384; Delhi 34,12,604 from 10 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Kanpur 2,04,071 (1 unrecd.), Lucknow 3,22,783 (100%), Allahabad 1,42,000, Varanasi 1,42,532, Bareilly 77,032 (34.48%), Dehradun 1,66,608, Gorakhpur 1,20,000, Hardwar 52,000; Rohtak 32,146; Calcutta 5,75,147 from 5 cinemas; Nagpur (TF) 2,51,062 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur 2,03,192, total 9,78,088, Akola (TF) 1,20,518, total 6,82,877, Raipur 96,550, total 5,85,141, Bhilai 77,417, Durg 60,048, Wardha (TF) 47,851, total 2,68,000, share 2,00,000, Chandrapur (TF) 1,35,944, total 7,24,310, Yavatmal (TF) 45,282; Indore 1,40,096 (2 on F.H.), Bhopal 1,51,917; Jaipur 4,63,831 from 2 cinemas, Jodhpur 2,85,000, Bikaner 1,81,445; Hyderabad 4,42,794 from 2 cinemas (1 in noon), share 1,95,794.

Virasat 6th week Bombay 15,35,854 (71.03%) from 6 cinemas (3 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 95,700 from 2 cinemas (1 unrecd.), 5th week Rajkot 67,495; 6th week Pune 5,71,292 from 4 cinemas (1 in matinee), Kolhapur 1,06,965, Solapur 90,186, 2nd Barsi 26,000; 6th week Delhi 91,387; Kanpur 66,776, Lucknow 1,71,961, Allahabad 39,000, Varanasi 34,180, Meerut 40,204, Dehradun 50,676, Gorakhpur 27,400, Hardwar 16,533; Calcutta 2,21,675 from 2 cinemas; Nagpur 53,313, Jabalpur 79,482, total 7,41,787, Amravati 46,095, 2nd Akola 75,900, total 1,98,150, 6th Raipur 47,605, Bhilai (5 days) 21,300, 2nd week Wardha 48,115; 6th Bhopal 57,414; Jaipur 1,19,784, 2nd week Udaipur 70,680; 6th week Hyderabad 2,77,197.

CHETAN ANAND DEAD

Veteran producer-director-actor Chetan Anand died in the early morning hours of 6th July at Nanavati Hospital in Bombay. He had been suffering from kidney failure and chronic asthma. He was 82 and is survived by his illustrious brothers, Dev and Vijay Anand, wife Uma, and sons Ketan and Vivek.

Chetan Anand was cremated the same day at Oshiwara (Bombay) and the funeral was attended by a number of film personalities including B.R. Chopra and Amitabh Bachchan.

Chetan Anand made his debut in films in 1944 as hero in Phani Mazumdar’s Rajkumar. He made his first film, Neecha Nagar, in 1946. It was not only acclaimed in the country but also won an award at the Cannes film festival.

Chetan Anand made a variety of films. Haqeeqat, which he directed in 1964, was based on the Sino-Indian war of 1962 and was India’s first war film. It went on to become a super-hit. His other memorable films are Heer Ranjha, the only film written in verse, Taxi Driver, Andhiyan, Hindustan Ki Kasam, Afsar, Fantoosh, Hanste Zakhm and Kudrat. His last film was Haathon Ki Lakeerein. He made films for his brother Dev Anand under the banner of Navketan Productions and for himself under the banner of Himalaya Productions.

‘MRITYUDAND’ RELEASE: ERSTWHILE C.P. DISTRIBUTOR GETS NO RELIEF IN COURT

Rajesh Jain, the erstwhile distributor of Mrityudand for C.P. Berar, could not get any relief from the court for restraining the film’s release. He had gone to court after the CCCA refused to register the film in his favour and, instead, registered it in favour of another. As mentioned last week, Rajesh was late in knocking the doors of the court. Justice Kapadia opined that had Rajesh sought justice six months back when producer Prakash Jha sought a price increase for the first time, things may have been different. Following no relief in Justice Kapadia’s court, Rajesh went in appeal before a division bench but his appeal was disallowed.

JAYSINH RATANSHI DEAD

Veteran Bombay distributor Jaysinh Ratanshi (of Jaysinh Pictures P. Ltd.) expired on 6th July in Bombay. He used to be the regular distributor of Raj Kapoor’s films till the eighties.

ROAD IN DELHI TO BE NAMED AFTER S.P. SINGH

Aadharshila, a group of writers, journalists and artistes, paid emotional tribute to the memory of noted journalist S.P. Singh and well-known theatre and TV artiste Anand Sharma at a function in Delhi last week in the Indian Council for Cultural Relations auditorium, Azad Bhawan. The president of Aadharshila, Pradeep Sardana, demanded that for paying memorable tribute to the memory of S.P. Singh, a road in the capital city, preferably one near the place where the office of Aaj Tak is located, should be named after him. He also requested suitable financial help for the family of Anand Sharma. Chief minister of Delhi welcomed both the suggestions and assured that he would immediately act on this.

Sardana recalled how only last December, S.P. Singh was awarded the Aadharshila award for Aaj Tak at the same auditorium. He also announced the starting of two special awards in the memory of these two personalities, one to be given to an outstanding journalist and the other, to the best actor of the year, in the annual Aadharshila awards function.

Tributes were also paid in this programme to film journalist Sampat Lal Purohit and filmmaker Basu Bhattacharya, both of whom also expired recently.

‘MRITYUDAND’ TAX-FREE IN MAHARASHTRA, M.P.

Prakash Jha’s Mrityudand has been granted 100% tax exemption in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. While the exemption in Maharashtra is for one year, that in M.P. is for six months.

CHITRA, SATARA DOWNS SHUTTERS

Chitra Talkies, Satara, closed down from 30th June. It was owned by Girdhar Shah and controlled by Vilas Karandikar. The cinema used to screen only English films. A commercial complex is likely to come up in place of the cinema which will be demolished soon.

NEW CINEMA IN HUBLI

A new cinema — Sri Laxmi Narayan — will open in Hubli, most likely on 18th July.

POWER SUPPLY DISCONTINUED TO 2 DELHI CINEMAS

The owners of Swaran cinema in Delhi have moved the court against the cancellation of power supply by the Delhi Vidyut Board on 4th July. The electricity connection was snapped on Friday while the afternoon show was still on.

The Swaran owners are challenging the decision of the DVB as, according to them, the power was cut without issuance of notice and this is against law. The capacity of the transformer at Swaran is 30 KW but they had been allegedly drawing around 40 KW.

The owners say that they had been requesting the DVB to increase the strength of the transformer to 40 KW, but no step had been initiated.

Meanwhile, the power supply of another cinema hall, Payal, has also been disconnected for deficiencies in the installation of transformer and other electrical equipment.

CENSOR NEWS

United Seven Combines’ Yes Boss, applied on 7th and seen on 8th, has been issued C.C. No. CIL/1/25/97 (U) dt. 10-7-’97; length 4536.84 metres in 16 reels (no cut).

Eklavya Visions’ Daava was given C.C. No. CIL/3/19/97 (A) dt. 7-7-’97; length 4452.75 metres in 16 reels (cuts: 156.80 metres).

Rohitasha Movies’ Dhaal has been passed for adults, with cuts, by the revising committee.

Mukta Arts Pvt. Ltd.’s Pardes (length 5261.45 metres in 21 reels), applied on 9th and seen on 10th, has been passed with U certificate, with 3 minor cuts.

Chiragdeep International’s Bhai Bhai will be seen next week.

TV & VIDEO INFORMATION

MUKESH KHANNA’S ‘SHAKTIMAN’ ON DD1

Bhishma International’s Shaktiman, produced by Mukesh Khanna and starring himself in the main lead, will go on air on DD1 from August. Directed by Dinkar Jani and written by Brij Mohan Pandey, the serial co-stars Kitu Gidwani, Navab, Deepak Bhatia and Brij Mohan Pandey.

YOU ASKED IT

In 150 weeks of HAHK..!, how many prints of the film have been taken out?

– 510 prints, unarguably the highest for first-run films.

Which has done more business, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge or Raja Hindustani?

– RAJA HINDUSTANI is a shade better in many of the circuits.

Is it advisable to make a star-studded horror film with a lot of computer graphics today?

– You can make anything, so long as the film has the merits to sustain audience interest and it offers something new.

DO YOU KNOW?

* GUPT has created a theatre record by collecting 2,48,740/- in 1st week at Anupam, Ahmedabad.

* GUPT has created history at Krishna, Padra (Gujarat), by collecting 2,80,068/- in 1st week.

* GUPT has created a theatre record by collecting 3,97,325/- in 1st week at Shreyas, Nadiad.

* GUPT has created a theatre record by collecting 3,11,307/- (100%) in 1st week at Anand, Lucknow.

* GUPT has created a theatre record at Shah, Agra, by drawing all shows full (2,39,927/-) in 1st week.

* GUPT has created a theatre record by collecting 2,40,285/- in 1st week at Apsara, Aligarh.

* GUPT has created a theatre record by collecting 1,87,622/- in 1st week at Miglani, Moradabad.

* GUPT has created a theatre record by collecting 3,71,801/- in 1st week at Prem Prakash, Jaipur.

* GUPT has created a theatre record by collecting 2,07,430/- in 1st week at Anand, Jodhpur.

* BORDER (tax-free) has created a theatre record by collecting 2,06,612/- in 4th week at Panchsheel, Nagpur.

* BORDER (TF) has created a city record by collecting 1,96,757/- in 4th week at Rajlaxmi, Amravati.

* BORDER (TF) has created another theatre record at Rajkamal, Akola, by collecting 1,20,518/- in 4th week (26 shows). Total: 6,82,877/-.

In Capital City Of Des For Music Release Of Pardes

After lying low for more than a year-and-a-half, Subhash Ghai decided to be his normal self on the 6th of July. So he did what he normally does. He organised a grand function at the grander Hyatt Regency Hotel in Delhi for releasing the music of his Pardes. And, as usual, he flew the Bombay press to cover the function.

I know, it must not have been pre-planned but I’d like to think otherwise. No, not the audio release party. I’m talking of the number of the room allotted to me in Hyatt. It was 124 and I couldn’t help remembering the ‘One two ka four’ song from Ghai’s earlier hit, Ram Lakhan, all through my 28-hour-and-some-15 minutes’ stay in Delhi. There were other reasons too for humming that super-hit number.

One of them was that the release function, which was scheduled to start at 1 p.m., commenced only around 2 p.m. One ka two, you see. Secondly, there wasn’t one but two different cassette release functions — one in the afternoon for the local press and film trade, and the other in the evening for political dignitaries and special friends. One ka two again, you see again! And for the two functions, there were four artistes of the film — Shah Rukh Khan, Amrish Puri and newcomers Mahima Chaudhry and Apoorva Agnihotri — present. The music team was also represented by four singers — Kavita Krishnamoorthy, Kumar Sanu, Sonu Nigam and Hema Sardesai. Of the two music directors, Nadeem and Shravan, only the latter, that is one, could make it to Delhi. See, how important the numbers ‘one’, ‘two’ and ‘four’ were in the showman’s function. So, do you blame me for constantly being haunted by the ‘One two ka four’ number?

Well, now coming to function number one. Ashok Amritraj and Jackie Shroff set the ball rolling by throwing open a float of the film on the dais and lighting the traditional lamp. An audio-visual of Subhash Ghai’s journey in the film industry under the Mukta Arts banner served to remind one of the hits and blockbusters the Ghai guy has given. Then there was the usual I-present-you-one-cassette-you-give-me-one-cassette ceremony with the recipients and the givers flashing smiles for the still and video cameras. In between the barter exchange of cassettes, the playback singers rendered songs from Pardes.

Lunch and drinks, hosted by distributors Mukta-Shakti Combines, followed, and by the time the celebrations were over, it was 4 o’clock. 1 (p.m.) ka 2 (p.m.) ka 4 (p.m.).

The evening function was almost a repetition of the afternoon one except that the two new faces, Mahima and Apoorva, were formally introduced to the gathering in the evening. Chief of army staff General S. Rowchowdhury formally released the cassette and presented one to Subhash Ghai. Ex-prime minister of India Atal Behari Vajpayee and Congress vice president Jitendra Prasad were special invitees. Atal-ji won a thunderous round of applause when, on being asked by Ghai to speak do shabd, announced that he would speak teen shabd and went on to say the three words, “Bahut bahut dhanyavad” before stepping down from the dais.

The playback singers enthralled the audience again with songs from the film. Kumar Sanu sang Do dil mil rahe hain, Hema Sardesai rendered ‘My first day in USA’, Sonu Nigam sang Dil deewana dil, and Kavita Krishnamoorthy aroused patriotic feelings with her ‘I love my India’ song. If there was anything that in a small way spoilt the show, it was the microphone which kept failing at the wrong time. But this is India and without such lapses, how can a function be complete? No, I don’t want to complain because I love such lapses as much as I love my India.

Drinks and dinner in the company of Delhiites followed. The next morning, breakfast was with Subhash Ghai. Actually, it was more of a ‘brunch’ (breakfast plus lunch) — two-in-one, if I may use the ‘one’ and ‘two’ again — because it was well past 12 noon by the time we had our first bite from a table laid with egg omelettes, dosa, puri bhaji, aloo parathas etc.

1 p.m. and 2 p.m. on the 7th of July was time for shopping and lunch respectively. And 4 p.m. was time to bid goodbye to Ghai and his Pardes family. It was also the time for a shock. Where was my ticket? Frantic searches and exactly three minutes later, it was clear that I had misplaced the ticket to Bombay. Ghai immediately instructed that a new ticket be purchased at the airport. Now this kind of one two ka four or rather, four two ka one, I least expected.

Feeling guilty for my absent-mindedness and more guilty for the monetary loss, I returned to buy a new ticket. “Name please,” asked the Sahara airlines staffer. “Komal Nahta,” I replied dejectedly. “Komal Nahta?”, asked the staffer excitedly. “We’ve already got your ticket, Sir. You left it in the aeroplane yesterday when you flew from Bombay to Delhi,” he informed a thrilled me.

Oh, I love Sahara India, I love Sahara India……. just as I love ‘I love my India’ from Pardes.

P.S.: I’ve stopped humming ‘One two ka four’ now. Instead, I’m singing ‘I love my India’…..

– Komal Nahta

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

No. 1 in Hindi & Sindhi

It is common knowledge that producer Vashu Bhagnani, who has a penchant for ‘No. 1’ in his film titles (Coolie No. 1 and Hero No. 1,) will soon start Biwi No. 1. But few are aware that Bhagnani will also be launching a Sindhi film which has been titled Sindhi No. 1! For Biwi No. 1, Vashu has signed Anil Kapoor and Govinda, who will be directed by David Dhawan. The heroine is yet to be finalised, and Vashu plans to launch it in September. Sindhi No. 1 will also roll in September and will be made by and with a team of newcomers. But wait, Vashu Bhagnani has serious plans of roping in dear friend and Sindhi by caste, Ramesh Taurani, to act in this film!

C.I.: Panic Circuit For Bobby

Call it a coincidence or whatever. Both the Bobby Deol starrers have had shaky starts in C.I. circuit. When Bobby’s debut film, Barsaat, was released in October ’95, the C.I. territory behaved rather erratically in the opening week. The opening in all other circuits was sensational but not so in C.I. Once again, when Gupt was released last week, the initial it fetched in C.I. sent panic signals through the length and breadth of the trade. Of course, finally, Barsaat managed to go into overflow in C.I. too. Let’s wait and watch where Gupt reaches.

Helpful Thackeray

Prakash Jha is extremely grateful to Bal Thackeray. It is because of him that his film, Mrityudand, managed to get the tax exemption order for Maharashtra in a matter of hours. Explained Jha, “We had completed all the formalities for tax exemption in advance, before Bal Thackeray called me over on Wednesday, July 9. He promised me that I would have the tax-free order in my hands by 4 p.m. and sure enough, the order was faxed to me around 4.30 p.m.” It was the first time Jha had met Thackeray who, according to the filmmaker, loved the film which deals with the awakening of women in a backward town of Bihar.

‘Ghoonghat’ Gifts

Bombay distributor Dilip Dhanwani has got made special umbrellas and bags which will be distributed among the holders of lucky ticket numbers of Ghoonghat in the various cinemas of Bombay where the film will be released on 25th July. Special Ghoonghat caps will be distributed free among the children-audience. A mobile van, carrying Ayesha Julka and master Omkar Kapoor, will make the rounds of Bombay city beginning 13th July to publicise the film. The two artistes of the film will meet people at Madh Island, Fantasy Land and Chandan cinema (Juhu) on Sunday, sign autographs and even distribute free gifts.

Golden Jubilee Of Freedom: Industry Must Celebrate

With India celebrating its golden jubilee of Independence this year, the film industry should organise a function for the occasion. There have been a number of films produced in the country, which have a patriotic flavour, and an audio-visual made from scenes and songs of such films can be screened at the function as also in cinemas all over for the rest of the year. Surely, the industry owes at least that much to the motherland.

AAR YA PAAR

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

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

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

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

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

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

EXCISE DUTY ON FILM ROLLS TO GO DOWN?

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

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

FFI DELEGATION MEETS UNION
FINANCE MINISTER

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

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

SC REJECTS PLEA TO QUASH CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS IN COPYRIGHT CASE

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

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

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

SHRIDHAR PRASAD DEAD

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

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

PRODUCTION NEWS

Pahlaj Launches ‘Indian’

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

‘Soldier’ In Rajasthan

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

TV & VIDEO INFORMATION

MANISH GOSWAMI’S NEW SERIAL ON AIR FROM 7TH

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

YOU ASKED IT

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

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

Who are the producers who are making films in wholesale?

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

Is Madhuri Dixit the heroine of Raftaar?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

DCRs – Delay Collection Reports

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

Where Is The Audience?

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

Waiting For A Clear Field

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

Badhai And ‘Judaai’

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

Costliest Hindi Film

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

Eye-Filling And Interesting

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

New Titles

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

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

Observations

To end the column with some observations:

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

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

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