SALAAKHEN

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

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

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

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

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

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

VIJAY SIPPY’S DEATH STILL A MYSTERY

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

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

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

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

CHANDRA SHEKHAR BEREAVED

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

SOUND RECORDIST H.D. MISTRY DEAD

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

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

Mistry had recorded the sound for 100 feature films.

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

C.I. REVERTS TO THURSDAY RELEASE SCHEDULE

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

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

HINDI FILMS ‘BANNED’ IN MANIPUR

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

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

YOU ASKED IT

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

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

Which was the first cinema to be built in India?

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

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

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

CENSOR NEWS

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

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

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

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

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

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

IN & OUT OF BOMBAY

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

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

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

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

DO YOU KNOW?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dream Merchant

‘Titanic’ Fever In Bollywood

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

– Komal Nahta

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Colleagues Before Becoming Man And Wife

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

A Promise Fulfilled

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

Thoughtful Gesture

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

Hindustani-Pakistani

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

The ‘D’ Factor

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

LOHA

Jockey Films’ Loha (A) is a crime film. A suspended police officer vows to avenge his sister’s murder by a don who has the complete support of a corrupt minister and a corrupt police officer. A forlorn army officer and a patriotic don join hands with the suspended police officer and help him in his mission. The army officer’s wife has been killed by another don. One by one, the villains are eliminated and, in the climax, the don too is finished by the police officer.

The screenplay provides scope for a lot of confrontation scenes between the dons, between the police officers and also between the hero and the main villain. The impact of several of the confrontation scenes is good mainly because of the hard-hitting dialogues (Bashir Babar) spoken in the language of the streets. The sarcasm at today’s politicians and times makes many scenes enjoyable. However, the action scenes are hardly as enjoyable. Rapes have been incorporated anywhere and everywhere to titillate the masses.

Dharmendra plays the iron-man with gusto and wins applause from front-benchers whenever he shows his fist as a mark of his strength. Mithun Chakraborty, in a subdued role, gives good support to Dharmendra. Sujata Mehta has a small and insignificant role. Shabnam Mala, Meghna and Pinky Alfanzo hardly get any scope. Mohan Joshi is quite good. Ishrat Ali does very well. Pramod Moutho acts ably. Shakti Kapoor, Deepak Shirke, Kiran Kumar, Harish Patel, Rajesh Vivek, Rami Reddy and Rajan Khan lend fair support. Govinda and Manisha Koirala entertain in special appearances and they are provided able support by Dinesh Hingoo.

Direction is alright. Music has hardly any appeal. There’s a sad song too, which looks out of place in a film of this genre. Photography and other technical values are below the mark.

On the whole, fast-paced Loha has enjoyable dialogues as the biggest asset, which, to an extent, make up for a routine story and technical drawbacks. It should give some returns to its distributors on the strength of business in ‘B’ and ‘C’ class centres.

Released on 17-10-’97 at Dreamland and 14 other cinemas of Bombay thru Tridev Movies. Publicity & opening: fair. …….Also released all over. Opening was impressive in C.P. Berar and Rajasthan.

LATEST POSITION

The examination period and the festival period have taken their toll on the box-office.

Deewana Mastana has done fairly good business in the first week. It dropped from 5th day onwards at several places. Should prove a commission-earner in some circuits and fetch overflow in others. 1st week Bombay 48,08,479 (92.06%) from 12 cinemas (10 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 8,51,008 from 7 cinemas (2 unrecd.), Rajkot 1,94,398 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Jamnagar 1,21,361 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Pune 11,66,285 from 5 cinemas (1 in matinee), Kolhapur 1,67,000; Hubli 1,95,674 (97.79%) from 2 cinemas (1 in noon), Belgaum 2,07,627 (96%); Delhi 49,83,740 (89.45%) from 13 cinemas (1 unrecd., 1 on F.H.); Kanpur 3,93,036 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 2,42,939 (100%), Agra 2,65,415, Varanasi 1,80,252, Meerut 1,87,913 (100%), Bareilly 1,40,480 (62.88%), Dehradun 1,80,000 (86.95%), Gorakhpur 1,33,000, Hardwar 95,000; Amritsar 55,410; Calcutta (8 days at most of the cinemas) 28,91,918 from 17 cinemas; Nagpur 5,83,620 from 5 cinemas, Amravati 1,49,654, Akola 1,56,830, Raipur (6 days) 1,78,877, Bhilai 1,37,127, Jalgaon 1,47,650, Chandrapur 1,43,666; Indore 2,57,596 (5 on F.H.), Bhopal 3,52,894 from 2 cinemas; Jaipur 7,26,463 from 3 cinemas, Bikaner 2,66,248; Hyderabad 28,68,327 from 15 cinemas (1 in noon), share 14,50,000.

Mr. & Mrs. Khiladi has not found favour with the audience, and its collections began dropping from 4th and 5th day onwards. It will entail heavy losses to most of its distributors. 1st week Bombay 40,77,877 (75.38%) from 14 cinemas (11 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 5,62,913 from 6 cinemas (1 unrecd.), Vapi 4,22,443 from 2 cinemas, Baroda 1,58,493, Bharuch (gross) 2,25,286, Rajkot 1,61,581 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Jamnagar 1,14,808 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Pune 10,50,053 from 7 cinemas (2 in matinee), Kolhapur 1,22,877, Satara 1,51,866 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Belgaum 1,17,943 (82.67%); Delhi 47,39,590 (79.71%) from 13 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 3,74,937 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 3,30,686, Varanasi 1,78,815, Bareilly 1,01,223 (65.76%), Dehradun 1,26,000 (56.31%), Gorakhpur 1,40,000; Calcutta (6 days at most of the cinemas) 21,00,123 from 16 cinemas; Rourkela 2,28,333 from 2 cinemas; Nagpur 5,58,472 from 4 cinemas, Jabalpur 1,75,067, Amravati 1,45,443, Akola 1,02,286, Raipur 1,40,002 (57.41%), Bhilai 1,17,038, Jalgaon 1,02,027; Indore 1,15,005 (4 on F.H.), Bhopal 3,57,078 from 3 cinemas; Jaipur 7,92,646 from 4 cinemas; Hyderabad 20,88,693 from 12 cinemas (2 in noon).

……..

SURINDER KAPOOR HEADS GUILD AGAIN

Surinder Kapoor was unanimously re-elected president of The Film Producers Guild of India Ltd. for 1997-98 at its meeting held on 11th October. This is the third successive term of Kapoor as president. Yash Chopra and Gulshan Rai were re-elected vice presidents, and Kiran Shantaram and Kamal Kumar Barjatya, hon. treasurers.

Earlier on the same day, at the 43rd annual general meeting of the Guild, the following 14 other members, besides the five above, were unanimously re-elected to the executive committee: B.R. Chopra, F.C. Mehra, T.C. Dewan, Harmesh Malhotra, Prakash Mehra, Pramod Chakravorty, J. Om Prakash, Ramanand Sagar, Ram Dayal, A.G. Nadiadwala, Randhir Kapoor, Rajkumar Kohli, Tilak Raj Magan and Amit Khanna.

B.K. Rau has been designated secretary of the Guild.

HINDI ‘KAMA SUTRA’ OFFERED NEW CUTS: RELEASE POSTPONED

Mira Nair’s Kama Sutra, which was scheduled for release this week, has been postponed. The Hindi, Tamil and Telugu dubbed versions have not been censored as yet.

The three dubbed versions have been offered ‘A’ certificate with seven to eight more cuts in scenes which were okayed in the original version. The all-India rights holder, R. Mohan, had expected the same cuts for the dubbed versions as in the English version, and no more. But that was not to be. R. Mohan is likely to appeal against the cuts to the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal.

Consequently, the release of the English as well as the Hindi, Tamil and Telugu versions has been postponed.

OVERWORK? OVER-CONFIDENCE? REPETITIVENESS? WHAT’S IT, DAVID?

David Dhawan may have created a record by having two of his films — Deewana Mastana and Mr. & Mrs. Khiladi — released in the same week. But none of the two abovenamed films has been a record-breaker as several earlier films of David.

Mr. & Mrs. Khiladi will prove to be a loser in most of the circuits. Although Deewana Mastana is doing well, it isn’t a hit like David’s earlier films viz. Aankhen, Shola Aur Shabnam, Bol Radha Bol, Raja Babu, Coolie No. 1, Saajan Chale Sasural or Hero No. 1.

What is the reason? Is David’s style getting repetitive? Is directing too many films together taking its toll on David’s work? Are his writers not coming up with new ideas?

Although David Dhawan should be able to answer the above questions accurately, it appears that all of the above have in some way or the other contributed to the current state of affairs.

Had it been any other director, this would not have been an issue. But David is directing several films presently and is scheduled to start several more. At least 50 crores of the industry are at stake at the hands of David.

That’s the reason David Dhawan should pull up his socks. May be, he should try teaming up with new writers. David’s over-confidence is showing somewhere.

SUBHASH GHAI CLOSES BITE THE MANGO FETE

Subhash Ghai made a speech at the final night of Bite The Mango Film Festival on 11th October in Bradford, U.K. He spoke of his career as director and star-maker as also his plans for the future. The hit Choli ke peechhe song from his Khal-nayak and his Pardes were also screened on the occasion. Pardes was greatly appreciated.

Shabana Azmi won the audience’s hearts with her screen talk about her art-house career and the role of women in Indian Cinema. Local businesses raised funds in support of her favourite charity, Nivara Hakk, for Bombay’s homeless.

Among the films from India screened at the festival were Plus Films’ Gudia and Sardari Begum, and Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Kathapurushan. Mrityudand and Pardes were also shown. Films from several other countries including the UK, USA and Pakistan were also screened.

The festival inaugurated its first film trade market.

MERAJ NO MORE

Film director Meraj died following a paralytic attack at his residence in Allahabad on 12th October. He was 46 and is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.

Meraj used to assist Gulzar before he became an independent director, and directed films like Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein, Sitara and Dhat Tere Ki.

His funeral was held in Allahabad on 13th.

MADAN SETH DEAD

Madan Seth, proprietor of Geet and Gunjan cinemas, Vapi, expired on the morning of 17th October in Bombay following cardiac arrest. He was 65 and is survived by his wife, two sons, two daughters-in-law, a daughter and a son-in-law. The funeral was held the same evening.

A condolence meeting will be held on Monday, October 20, at Arya Vidya Mandir School, St. Cyril Road, opp. St. Andrews High School, Bandra, Bombay, from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Geet and Gunjan cinemas remained closed on 17th. Jayshree, Shree and Vaishali cinemas of Vapi suspended a show each, as a mark of respect.

GYAN SAHAY BEREAVED

Siya Rani Sahay, mother of cameraman and director Gyan Sahay, expired on 15th October in a hospital in Bombay after a brief illness. She was cremated at the Vile Parle crematorium on 17th with Hindu Vedic rites. She was 76.

East Punjab Exhibitors’ Losses Put Distributors In Doldrums

Distributors of Punjab have been left high and dry by exhibitors of Amritsar, Abohar, Sonepat and Rohtak, who have formed pools. The exhibitors’ pools have decided not to give MGs or fixed hires to distributors, thanks to the heavy losses they’ve suffered in recent times. This had to happen and it was only a matter of time. Losses of exhibitors have now put the distributors in doldrums because the latter used to depend heavily on monies from the exhibitors of the above centres at the time of taking deliveries of films.

Amritsar, especially, is the main coverage centre and used to contribute upto 25% of a film’s price. With the exhibitors’ pools deciding to screen films on theatre hire only, distributors are now panicking. It is for this reason that this week’s Loha has not opened in Amritsar.

Distributors of at least two films due for release on 31st October (Diwali) are in a problematic state due to the exhibitors above pulling out from giving them MGs and FHs.

Difficult days are ahead for distributors of East Punjab. And the difficult times of distributors are bound to be reflected in their dealings with producers. So producers, too, have cause for concern.

Queen Elizabeth Witnesses Kamal Haasan’s Muhurt

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth witnessed the muhurt of Kamal Haasan’s Tamil film, Marudanaayagam, on 16th October at Film City, Madras. For the muhurt shot, Kamal Haasan, who plays the lead in the film, besides producing and directing it, delivered the patriotic dialogue, “Who says, I cannot take on the British? I am the soil, the air and the sun of this land.” Though the dialogue was in Tamil, its English translation had been given to the Queen. The Queen was introduced to the leading members of the unit after the muhurt.

A red-carpet welcome was accorded to the Queen and her entourage at the Film City by Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi, TMC president G.K. Moopanar and Union I & B minister Jaipal Reddy. Before the shooting, the queen watched a 5-minute test shoot footage of the same film. She exchanged pleasantries with some of the film guests like Sivaji Ganesan, Rajinikanth, Sridevi, Prabhu Deva, Amrish Puri and Asha Bhosle.

YOU ASKED IT

Why do you blame artistes for charging high prices? After all, they are demanding high prices because they get them.

– Yash Chopra could also have got 3 crore per major territory for his film DIL TO PAGAL HAI, but he didn’t price his film at 3. He was satisfied getting 2 per major circuit. Stars have to start believing in the live-and-let-live policy. After all, they can’t be letting the industry (comprising, among others, producers and directors) suffer while not themselves opening their eyes to reality. Stars are, in one word, exploiting the producers who have no alternative.

Ideally, in how much time should a film be completed?

– In eight to twelve months.

What should the Diwali resolution of producers be?

– To concentrate more on scripts rather than on stars and to cut down on all wasteful expenditure.

CENSOR NEWS

Yash Raj Films P. Ltd.’s Dil To Pagal Hai was given C.C. No. CIL/1/49/97 (U) dt. 17-10-’97; length 4925.57 metres in 17 reels (no cut).

Yashish Enterprises’ Bhai was given C.C. No. CIL/3/37/97 (A) dt. 15-10-’97; length 4540.62 metres in 17 reels (cuts: 34.47 metres).

Mirabai Films P. Ltd.’s Kama Sutra: A Tale Of Love (dubbed) has been offered A certificate, with 8 cuts; cuts were not accepted by the producers.

TRAILERS

Trailer of S.G.S. Cine Arts International’s Ghulam-E-Musthafa was given C.C. No. CIS/2/17/97 (UA) dt. 15-10-’97; length 102.41 metres.

Trailer of Yashish Enterprises’ Bhai was given C.C. No. CIS/3/35/97 (A) dt. 15-10-’97; length 96.41 metres.

Trailer of Tridev Arts’ Udaan was given C.C. No. CIS/3/34/97 (A) dt. 14-10-’97; length 144.17 metres (cuts: 20.42 metres).

Trailer of Columbia Tristar Films of India Ltd.’s Vishwarakshak: Duniya Ke Rakhwale (dubbed) was given C.C. No. CIS/2/53/97 (UA) dt. 15-10-’97; length 71.70 metres.

IN & OUT OF BOMBAY

Bombay distributor-exhibitor Anil Thadani left for London on 14th October to finalise the release of DIL TO PAGAL HAI in U.K.

Producer-director Subhash Ghai is expected back from his foreign trip on 20th/21st October.

Dr. Sunil Kumar of Vijay-Laxmi Pictures, Calcutta-Patna, left Bombay for Patna on 17th October.

MIX MASALA

SINGLE AND DOUBLE

Since it gets confusing when one talks of Bhai and Bhai Bhai together, the industry people have evolved a novel way to do away with the confusion. Deepak Shivdasani’s Bhai is called ‘single Bhai‘ and Pahlaj Nihalani’s Bhai Bhai is called ‘double Bhai‘!

TENSION OVER DATES

There is a lot of tension between the leading lady and the presenter of an under-production film over the matter of dates. The presenter, it is reported, is exasperated by the constant jugglery of dates by his heroine and is believed to be seriously thinking of replacing her.

DAVID BREAKS OWN RECORD

If you think last Friday was the first time when two films of a director were released simultaneously, you are wrong. Earlier too, two films of one director have been released on the same day. The coincidence is that on both the occasions, the director was the same — David Dhawan.

On last Friday were released David’s Deewana Mastana and Mr. & Mrs. Khiladi. Eight years ago also, on 29th December, 1989 to be precise, two films directed by David Dhawan were released. They were Aag Ka Gola (produced by Pahlaj Nihalani) and Jurrat (produced by Rajendra Kumar).

So, David Dhawan last week broke his own record of eight years back.

WHEN OLD IS NOT GOLD

Believe it or not but Dharma Karma didn’t take an opening in Delhi-U.P. because the audience there thought, it was some old film of Dharmendra-Jeetendra which had been revived with a new title. The absence of a popular young hero may have given the pubic such an impression. But then, you might well ask, why did Dharma Karma not take an opening in the other cities too? Come on, avoid such embarrassing questions — embarrassing for Dharma and Karma or, rather, Dharmendra and Jeetendra.

DO YOU KNOW?

* West Bengal distributor of DIL TO PAGAL HAI, Pritam Jalan, has decided to open plans (advance booking) of the film at three cinemas of Calcutta — Metro, Priya and Mitra — on 27th October, for two weeks together.

* The Tamilnadu distributor of DIL TO PAGAL HAI will be giving free tickets of the film for any of the first three days at Melody, Madras, to people who buy Lacoste or Nike products from Pondy Bazaar boutique at T. Nagar in Madras.

* Since JODIDAR is an animal film, a special students show was kept one day in Itarsi at Sundaram cinema (earlier name Janta Chitralaya). The rates of admission were nominal.

* DIL TO PAGAL HAI has been booked at Raj, Itarsi, for simultaneous release on 31st October at a fantastic MG of Rs. 5 lakh! This is three times the MG of DDLJ.

* Although by tradition, a film runs at one main cinema, YES BOSS has been screened at various main cinemas in Ahmedabad. It first opened at Relief, was then shifted to Rupam, then Prakash, Shree, Shiv and Ashok.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

BLAME DISTRIBUTORS ALSO

Dear Sir,

Your ‘Hats Off!’ editorial last week was good. But why blame artistes only? This is half truth. You say that “Distributors are crying tears of blood”. Don’t you think, they are equally responsible for this state of affairs? The first blow came from them by way of ‘ceiling’. They wanted to restrict the number of films of artistes. They wanted to control producers and artistes. Artistes, when they realised that they have to do less films, naturally became ruthless, even with their best producer-friends. They felt star-ceiling was another form of slavery. And thus entered a few No. 2 big shots who offered huge prices and bulky singing amounts to artistes, resulting in the total eradication of regular producers. These big shots had money, but did not know how and where to spend the money. Artistes were allured by these big shots. Result: a person, without any concrete knowledge of film production, cannot make successful films just because he has ample wealth. To make a successful film, a combination is required. A combination means a sensible producer who selects correct technicians and stars at reasonable prices. This combination was broken the moment ceiling was imposed. In the last two years, only proposal makers are in the forefront. And distributors also started running after them. They invested money in the wrong hands. Who shall they blame now? Not artistes.

– Jawaharlal Bafna

LEGAL ACTION AGAINST FILM INFORMATION?

While the production and distribution sectors of the industry hailed our editorial on stars and star prices last week as “bold” and “beautiful”, there is at least one star who is contemplating taking legal action against Film Information for writing about him in the said editorial.

The star under question was in a foreign country when the issue of last week was out, and he was reportedly trying to seek legal opinion on what action could be taken against Information for commenting on his market position vis-à-vis his price.

Notwithstanding his proposed action against Information, we would once again ask him to reduce his price to a more reasonable level (and to also report on the sets on time), for the sake of the welfare of the industry. After doing that, he can go ahead and start legal proceedings. Good luck to the guy!

– Editor

Better Never Than Late!

Last week, I wrote about star prices. Another very disturbing practice in the industry is that of latecoming by stars. Many of the stars believe, it is their birthright to arrive late on the sets.

What the hell is going on? Why are our producers behaving like an impotent lot, ready to bear any shit that is flung at their faces. And by whom? By those whom the producers pay — and pay not in hundreds, thousands or lakhs of rupees, but in crores. In no other industry in the world is there such a criminal wastage of time as in the film industry in India. Time is money — this age-old adage has no meaning for our stars, or rather, it has a different meaning. For the artistes, their own time is money but the time of others is worthless.

Like stars, we have star music directors too. They come two and three hours late for their recordings, as a rule. Their musicians are no better.

What nonsense! Producers and directors shouldn’t be taking things lying down. Today, if you ask a David Dhawan how he adjusts to Govinda’s latecoming, he puts on a brave face and laughs, “Govinda is such a talented actor, he can finish in two hours what other actors would take six or eight hours to complete.” But Mr. David Dhawan, does Govinda’s talent give him a licence to treat all the others in the unit as dirt and hold up the entire shooting day after day. Or if a Sunny Deol or a Manisha Koirala cancels an entire shooting schedule because of his/her mood or other engagement, why should any producer treat this as “part of the game”? And if an Anupam Kher reports at 2 p.m. for a 9 a.m. shift, why does a producer yet smile his best Binaca smile and go running to open the door of his car and welcome him with open arms? He must have the guts to tell Kher that he is late by five hours and that this nonsense will not do.

Producers have to learn to put their foot down. They’ve borne too much for too long. It’s a shame when today a Raveena Tandon bunks the shooting of a veteran like Manoj Kumar. The producer is paying the star for acting in his film. The dates allotted to him are his, and he should not tolerate any hanky-panky by the star as far as the dates are concerned. If Hollywood can do it, why not Bollywood?

Why, in Bollywood itself, we have Amitabh Bachchan who is punctual always. We also have Amrish Puri who is ready with his make-up on, on the set at the scheduled time. Nana Patekar arrives on the sets on time and leaves on time. In fact, so punctual is Nana that at a recent shooting, when his co-star, Manisha Koirala, reported late, he literally begged of her, in full view of the film’s unit, to report for shooting on time. Needless to add, it embarrassed Manisha but not enough for her to mend her ways.

The intensity of the problem of latecoming can best be explained by this example. Suppose a hero reports late on the sets by one minute. If, on an average, there are 50 people directly and indirectly connected in that shooting, it would mean a waste of 50 man-minutes. That’s the loss of time in one shooting in one day if just the hero is late by simply one minute. Multiply this figure by 360 working days in a year, and we have 18,000 man-minutes. Multiply this by 100 shootings per year and we have 18,00,000 man-minutes lost! In other words, if the hero of every film reports one minute late on the sets, the industry will lose 18,00,000 man-minutes in one year. If we divide this by 50 men (we’ve assumed, there are 50 men in a shooting, connected directly and indirectly), we have 36,000 minutes or, in other words, 600 hours of wastage. Translated in shifts (of 8 working hours), this would mean 75 shifts. David Dhawan can complete a film in a lesser number of shifts than this. And, mind you, we’ve assumed (a) that only the hero is reporting late, and (b) that he is late by just one minute. Imagine then, the criminal waste of time in reality when not just the hero but every Tom, Dick and Harry is reporting late by hours.

Until the producer asserts his position, he cannot hope to get a better deal. And if he can’t help himself, he should stop crying and hurling abuses (all off-record and behind closed doors) at his stars. Because even God does not help those who cannot help themselves. Yes, Mr. Producer, show the stars that you are the boss and not the one who can be bossed around and tossed about. Change the saying ‘Better late than never’ to ‘Better never than late’. Yes, it’s more sensible to never work with latecomers than to tolerate their latecoming.

– Komal Nahta

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Not Postponed

There were rumours throughout the week that Deepak Shivdasani had postponed the release of his Bhai and would now get it after Diwali. The reason being given for the postponement was that since Pahlaj Nihalani’s Bhai Bhai was being released on Diwali, there would be confusion among the audience if Bhai too came simultaneously. But the rumours turned out to be false as Bhai is definitely hitting the screens on 31st October, notwithstanding the fact that Bhai Bhai is also scheduled for release on the same day.

Dull Dassera, Dark Diwali

The scenario in the film industry refuses to change. The panic-stricken industry continues to reel under a financial crunch even more than two months after the killing of music magnate Gulshan Kumar, which triggered off the fear. Financiers have withdrawn from the industry and are preferring to lie low for the time being. Shootings have declined by more than 60%. The grim scene has become grimmer with several big films flopping. The gloom that has spread in the industry can best be gauged by the fact that there was no film launching even on an auspicious day like Dassera this year. Diwali, therefore, cannot be expected to be a very bright affair for the industry this year.

Worst-Ever Crisis

The extent to which film shootings have declined can be gauged by the following:

A busy heroine like Karisma Kapoor could manage to go to the USA and Canada for the shooting of her dad, Randhir Kapoor’s Aa Ab Laut Chalen although she is not acting in the film. The shooting, for which she had allotted dates, was cancelled and Karisma made the most of the cancellation by flying off to where her father’s unit was.

Mahesh Gupta, a leading supplier of set materials, has not got an order for a single paint box since the last twelve days! Being one of the popular set material suppliers, Gupta, in normal circumstances, sells several paint boxes every day because sets are always being erected, and paint is required throughout the year. But the current lull in shooting activity is of the kind never seen before.

Hindi Films In English

“You dog, I won’t leave you alive.” Imagine Dharmendra mouthing this dialogue.

“I want to be your wife, cook food for you and be the mother of your children.” Picture Sridevi saying these words.

“Our trucks with arms and ammunition have been stopped by the police; call up the minister immediately. Tell him, I want to talk to him.” Amrish Puri utters these words.

The above will soon be a reality. Overseas distributors Galaxy Exports have decided to dub about a hundred old Hindi films in English for the various cable TV networks across the world. If Hollywood producers can dub English films in Hindi for theatrical release in India, Bollywood too can dub Hindi films in English for television release, to begin with.

The first Hindi film being dubbed by Galaxy is Yateem. Before this, Rajshri had dubbed Maine Pyar Kiya and HAHK..! in English.

Karnataka Apes Maharashtra

As in Maharashtra, so also in Karnataka. When the Maharashtra government had reduced entertainment tax in the state in 1994, several cinemas refused to pass on the benefit to cinema-goers by reducing admission rates. Some cinemas even increased the rates. The same is now happening in Karnataka. Some cinemas of that state, too, are refusing to let the public enjoy the benefit of the state government’s reduction of entertainment tax for non-Kannada films from 110% to 70%. Instead of reducing admission rates, they’ve enhanced rates in balcony from Rs. 15 to Rs. 20.

CHINA GATE

Santoshi Productions’ China Gate (UA) is the story of ten honest armymen who were dismissed for an error they had committed. They meet after 17 years of their dismissal and set out on a mission — to rid a village of the clutches of a sadistic dacoit who has made the life of the villagers hell. The story is heavily inspired from Sholay and the Japanese film, Seven Samurai. Yet, the novelty of ten old men on a mission is interesting and even enjoyable in the first half. The drama takes a serious turn after interval and that’s when the film loses grip. The incidents from the personal lives of the oldies don’t have the desired emotional effect. The Hindu-Muslim sentiments also look contrived. The interaction of some of the armymen with the little girl in the village also looks forced and has no impact on the viewer. In short, several portions of the second half look fake. The climax, abounding in action, is once again impressive. Even other than the climax, the film has plenty of action. But it moves on a single track with hardly any interesting diversions. As a result, ladies patronage will be limited. Devoid of star value and romance, the film relies on light moments and gags in the first half and drama in the second. Dialogues are good but only at places.

Performances of almost everybody are wonderful. Naseeruddin Shah does a marvellous job and shines as one of the most important members of the team. Om Puri is also fantastic as the leader of the group. Danny Denzongpa is superbly restrained. Amrish Puri is lovable and deserves kudos for a brilliant job done naturally. Jagdeep’s comedy is very good. Anjan Srivastava is effective. Viju Khote is quite good. Kulbhushan Kharbanda lives his role. Tinnu Anand acts ably. K.D. Chandran gets the least scope but is good. New villain Mukesh Tiwari does well but is definitely not brilliant enough to match the force of the ten-man army. His voice is not up to the mark for the character he plays. He is bound to be compared to Amjad Khan of Sholay and that won’t be good for him. Mamta Kulkarni does fairly well in a brief role. New hero Samir Soni impresses with a confident debut. Paresh Rawal infuses life in the second half with a performance that’s extraordinary. Ila Arun, Harish Patel, Jeetu Verma, Anupam Kher, Shivaji Satam and Girish Karnad (in a special appearance) lend the desired support. Urmila Matondkar’s dance is a highlight.

Rajkumar Santoshi’s shot takings are splendid and he has been able to keep the audience’s interest alive even without stars. His direction is excellent, but the same cannot be said of his choice of the subject. Although the screenplay (Rajkumar Santoshi, Anjum Rajabali and K.K. Raina) is well-written, the heavy inspiration from a classic like Sholay for a big canvas film as this is unpardonable and it will limit the prospects greatly. More so, because the film lacks star power. The expenditure incurred on the film warranted (i) a more promising subject with scope for romance, music etc. and (ii) star value. Besides, the writers have not been able to come up with a single novelty in the entire film!

The theme song is passable but ‘Chhamma Chhamma’ is very well-turned and has a lovely picturisation. The background score is effective. Tinnu Verma deserves high praise for his stunts; the action scenes are fantastic and those involving horses are mind-boggling. Camerawork (Piyush Shah) is fabulous. Production values are grand. Technically, brilliant. The titles in the film are not only novel but they are also beautifully done.

On the whole, China Gate is a well-made action film but suffers on account of its similarity to Sholay. Besides, there’s too heavy a price which doesn’t quite go well with the lack of star names and also a below-the-mark opening. Even if it picks up, its heavy price will spell danger for its distributors. It will prove to be a loser in most circuits, with some chances in Bombay and Maharashtra.

Released on 26-11-’98 at Metro and on 27-11-’98 at 19 other cinemas of Bombay thru V.I.P. Enterprises. Publicity & opening: good. …….Also released all over. Opening was dull in some circuits and poor in some others.

DOLI SAJA KE RAKHNA

Ram Creations’ Doli Saja Ke Rakhna is a love story with a difference. As in many previous love tales, in this film too, the girl and the boy in love elope because both their families are against the marriage. But, unlike in other romance dramas, the boy and the girl in this case decide (just when they are about to get married) that they would be cheating on their families if they got married against their wishes, and, consequently, they sacrifice their love for each other because of the love for their parents. The families of the two start searching for matches for their respective children, but in the end, they realise that the two lovers are the best match for each other. They then get the two of them married.

The concept of the families uniting the two lovers is novel in thought as well as execution. The whole unity drama has been executed with such aplomb and sensitiveness that it would make people cry. The first half is a bit slow but what makes up for the slow pace is the genuineness of the hero. His character is that of an honest and forthright young boy, something that endears him to the audience instantly. A few reels after interval (the portion involving the fisherfolk of Goa) are boring. But once that chapter of the drama comes to almost its end, the pace picks up and so does the emotional content. The story (Fazil) is new and par excellence, but the screenplay is weak and loose at places. The girl’s family opposing her relationship with the boy does not appeal because the reason for the opposition has not even been attempted to be explained. Further, the Malayalam film remake has too much of a South flavour. In the initial reels, the behaviour of two (Paresh Rawal and Tej Sapru) of the three brothers of the heroine is irritating because their deeds do not befit their social status. Dialogues are appropriate.

Akshaye Khanna endears himself to the audience not only because of his characterisation but also because of his brilliant performance. But the masses will miss his heroism because there is not much scope for heroism in the usual sense of the word. Jyotika Sadanah lacks glamour and considering that the film is a love story, this turns out to be a major drawback; she, however, performs naturally in her maiden venture. Moushumi Chatterjee and Aroona Irani are excellent. Their scene in the climax is fantastic. Anupam Kher also delivers a good performance. Paresh Rawal is impressive in emotional scenes. Tej Sapru also acts well. Mohnish Bahl makes a mark. Innocent’s comedy is ordinary. Amrish Puri is alright but his portion of the drama needs to be edited; the editing will help, and if the producer and director don’t reduce his scenes, distributors/exhibitors are bound to do so. Ninad Kamat and Umesh Shukla, as Akshaye’s friends, are lovable. Suresh Menon is average as the third friend. Mink’s dance is sexy. Viju Khote, Darshan Bagga and Nandu lend the desired support.

Priyadarshan’s direction is good but he does falter at places and has not been able to make the narration racy enough for a love story. In fact, the slow pace is the film’s undoing. A.R. Rahman’s music is a letdown as the love story needed a hit or super-hit score. ‘O kissa hum likhenge’, ‘Chal khewa re khewa’ and ‘Yeh khoya khoya rahta hai’ are fair numbers. The ‘Bol sajni mori sajni’ number needs to be deleted. Song picturisations are a treat for the eyes. Camerawork is masterly. Sabu Cyril’s art direction is terrific. Action scenes are lovely, especially the one in the campus.

On the whole, Doli Saja Ke Rakhna has a slow pace, an unglamorous heroine, ordinary music and a shockingly slow start as its biggest drawbacks, and emotions as the only strong plus point. It will, therefore, entail losses to its distributors. It will do somewhat better in Bombay and Maharashtra.

Released on 27-11-’98 at Central Plaza and 8 other cinemas of Bombay by Mark Films International thru Balaji Enterprises. Publicity: very good. Opening: fair. …….Also released all over. The opening was very poor everywhere (in the region of 15%-20%!) except Bombay.

LATEST POSITION

SOLDIER has done pretty well everywhere and is the best in Delhi-U.P., Punjab, Bihar, Rajasthan and Nizam.

Soldier 1st week Bombay 48,95,824 (88.55%) from 13 cinemas (10 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 11,44,114 from 5 cinemas, Padra 2,14,206, Rajkot 1,85,205; Pune 12,66,446 from 4 cinemas, Kolhapur  2,37,909, Solapur 3,41,501 from 2 cinemas; Belgaum 1,27,890 (100%); Delhi 61,00,133 (94.39%) from 13 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Kanpur 7,57,039 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 4,59,368, Agra 3,91,889, Allahabad 2,04,932, Meerut 2,33,002 (100%), Bareilly 2,61,892, Hardwar 1,15,544; Amristar 55,270; Calcutta 27,15,055 from 15 cinemas (11 on F.H.); Nagpur 8,20,453 from 4 cinemas, Jabalpur 2,24,865, Amravati (6 days) 1,75,624, Raipur (6 days) 2,22,586, Bhilai 2,68,664 from 2 cinemas, Durg 1,53,299; Indore 2,09,623 (85.90%, 4 on F.H.), Bhopal 4,70,426 from 2 cinemas; Hyderabad 44,89,210 from 14 cinemas, highest ever.

……………

Mehndi is doing well in C.I. 2nd week Bombay 4,01,538 (65.91%) from 2 cinemas (3 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 79,129, Baroda 60,641, Rajkot (matinee) 7,070, Jamnagar 44,985 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Pune 61,610, Solapur (matinee) 21,384; Delhi 2,81,260 from 3 cinemas; Kanpur 72,776, Lucknow 46,530, Allahabad 30,000, Meerut 44,996, Bareilly 23,495; Calcutta 4,42,713 from 4 cinemas; Nagpur 37,489, Jabalpur 41,447, total 1,00,345, Amravati 76,996, Dhule 22,195, Raipur 41,410, 1st week Bhilai 41,107, 2nd Bilaspur (6 days) 26,403; Bhopal 45,433; Jaipur 1,93,998 from 2 cinemas, Jodhpur 85,000; Hyderabad 1,37,910.

Fire (dubbed) is excellent in Bombay city. 2nd week Bombay 10,18,882 (97.25%) from 2 cinemas, English version 3,49,197 (100%) from 2 cinemas; Ahmedabad 1,11,245; Pune 2,60,055; Delhi 3,55,361, English version 2,62,624; Lucknow 93,249, Agra 55,000, Allahabad 34,132; Calcutta 1,15,382; Nagpur 1,36,146; Hyderabad 1,39,190 from 2 cinemas.

POOR OPENINGS OF ‘DOLI…’ & ‘CHINA GATE’ SEND SHOCK WAVES IN TRADE

The disastrous opening of this week’s Doli Saja Ke Rakhna has stunned the entire trade. One had expected it to open to ordinary houses but an initial of just 15% to 20% (except in Bombay) was unthinkable. What seem to have gone against the film (for initial) are its weak music, cold title and heroine who is not glamorous. Even hero Akshaye Khanna has yet to prove his mettle in a solo starrer and, therefore, does not, perhaps, have the initial pulling power although he is liked by youngsters.

The dull opening of China Gate has also saddened the trade people. Lack of star value (the film has 10 oldies, one new hero, Mamta Kulkarni, and Urmila Matondkar in a special appearance) is the biggest culprit. Besides, publicity was not up to the mark, in the sense that it was started too late. Just one Chhamma Chhamma cannot do the trick. Nor can 20 hoardings put up hurriedly on the streets of Bombay without matching back-up publicity in the rest of the country ensure a bumper opening to a film with a super-bumper price.

Moral of the story: Don’t under-estimate the power of music and marketing. In their absence, you need at least saleable stars!

JAINS DEMAND BAN ON ‘FIRE’

Members of the Jain Vahini Samiti, an organisation of the Jain community in Bombay, met Maharashtra’s minister of state for cultural affairs and education, Anil Deshmukh, on 25th November and demanded a ban of Deepa Mehta’s Fire, now running in the city. The minister promised to see the film and said that if he found it objectionable, he would recommend the central government to ban it. The Jain Samiti alleged that the film was a blot on traditional Indian values.

INDORE TO HAVE 7 NEW CINEMAS

Seven new cinemas are coming up in Indore and they all should be operational in the next two years. Of these, five will be deluxe cinemas — three in the Geeta Bhawan area and two in the mill area. Two more cinemas are under construction and nearing completion in the west side of the city.

DELEGATION CALLS ON ASHA PAREKH: CBFC GUIDELINES DISCUSSED

A film industry delegation, led by Film Federation of India president Santosh Singh Jain, called on CBFC chairperson Asha Parekh on 25th November and discussed a number of key issues pertaining to censorship of films in India. The delegation comprised producer-distributor N.N. Sippy, FFI vice president K.G. Dossani, FFI general secretary K.D. Shorey, producer Raj Tilak, Marathi film producer Satish Kulkarni, Uday Singh of Columbia Tristar, Blaise Fernandes of Warner Bros., and FFI secretary S. Sen. At the meeting, it was decided that a number of workshops, consisting of representatives of the film industry as well as CBFC members, would be organised to discuss CBFC guidelines with an aim to arrive at a more uniform and logical interpretation of the same. The first workshop would be held some time in late January after the conclusion of the IFFI.

MANOHAR SHETTY’S SONS TO WED

Mohit and Hemant, sons of Manohar Shetty of Quality Cine Labs, will wed Mona (daughter of dubbing co-ordinator Leela Ghosh) and Smita respectively on 13th December at Tutkuk’s Lilac Garden, near Chandan cinema, off Lokhandwala Circle and Juhu bus depot, Juhu, Bombay.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

One Print, Two Cinemas, Three Intervals

How print shuttling can become a bane instead of a boon was brought out on Friday last week when Soldier opened at Satyam cinema alongwith others in Bombay and the rest of the country. The 6 p.m. show at Satyam started around 6.45 p.m. because the print, which was being shuttled between Satyam and Ganesh (Lalbaug), reached Satyam late. Instead of one, there were three intervals — one, the regular interval, another before it and the third, after it. While the regular interval was understandable, what agitated the audience were the other two breaks — one of about 10 minutes, and the other, of nearly 20 minutes. By the time the show got over, it was some minutes past 10 p.m. A couple of people, irritated by the triple intervals, even left before the film got over. One can well imagine when the last show would have started and when it must’ve got over, hopefully without extra intervals. A house-full capacity crowd had been waiting outside the cinema from 9.15 p.m. — waiting to be let in. The cinema management couldn’t let them in for no fault to theirs (cinema management’s) or the audience’s! Distributors need to take care that such lapses do not occur. For, the gain by way of saving on print cost could sometimes be less than the loss due to adverse public reaction and negative publicity.

Govinda, Gags & Gimmicks

As if one needed proof that Govinda’s films run more because of the star’s unique brand of humour than because of a sound story-line! Govinda’s track record in the last five years or so is evidence enough, for, it clearly reveals the fact that the only Govinda-starrers to succeed during the period are the ones which stressed on the typical Govinda gags and gimmicks rather than on a strong story. Each of Raja Babu, Coolie No. 1, Saajan Chale Sasural, Deewana Mastana, Hero No. 1, Aunty No. 1, Dulhe Raja and, more recently, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan were a success not because they had great stories, but because they were all made in — what may now be safely called — the true ‘Govinda mould’. On the other hand, during the same period, Govinda-starrers like Achanak, Do Ankhen Barah Haath, Maharaja, Pardesi Babu and some others, which were touted as having strong or, at least, reasonably good stories, fared badly. It seems, the audience wouldn’t care two hoots whether Govinda’s films have stories or not as long as they hold Govinda’s usual brand of comedy (even when dragged to a nonsensical extreme) as a primary ingredient.

It is pertinent to note here that out of the abovementioned eight Govinda successes, as many as six have been directed by David Dhawan! You may draw your own conclusions….

Suranas’ Modern Cinemas

The Suranas of Pushpa Pictures, Bhusawal have the largest chain of cinemas in the Khandesh region — 18, to be precise (6 owned by them and 12 controlled). And they’ve managed such an enviably large chain in a relatively short span of seven-eight years. Thy have cinemas in Dhule (3 cinemas), Amalner (3), Chopda (2), Bhusawal (2), Malkapur (2), Bodhwad (1), Edlabad (1), Khedjigar (1), among others. Of the 18 cinemas, three have been newly constructed while 12 have been fully renovated. Moreover, three more cinemas are already under construction, one each at Edlabad, Bodhwad and Faizpur. Several of these cinemas boast of modern urinals with an automatic handwash, Spartek flooring and cushioned chairs in the balcony class. A highlight of some of these cinemas is their unique music-light systems which enhance the viewing pleasure during song and dance sequences. A single-channel active DTS sound system has been installed at Prabhakar, Dhule (700 seats, minimum admission rate: Rs. 10), Tamboli, Amalner (160 seats, Rs. 6) and Shri Hanuman, Malkapur (700 seats, Rs. 6).

Sleeping His Blues Away

So depressed has the Delhi-U.P. distributor of a recent debacle become after burning his fingers in the disaster that he is seen sleeping most of the time, in his office. One has heard of success going to one’s head. But what do you say to this? Failure taking one to bed?!?

For Your Kind Information

Going by the recent utterances of the minister of state for information and broadcasting, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, the film industry must be regretting why it hosted a party in his honour a few months back in Bombay. Naqvi is so disturbed by the portrayal of politicians as vicious men in films that he has threatened to even review the Cinematograph Act in such a way that filmmakers are suitably persuaded to clean up their act and project politicians in a better light. Phew! Should film makers be cleaning up their act or should Naqvi be concerned about having politicians clean up their act? Every Indian knows that politics is the last resort of scoundrels, and the newspapers give enough evidence of what levels politicians these days have stooped down to. Then why does Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi want filmmakers to show politicians and netas as nayaks and not khal-nayaks? The industry has far too often been accused of influencing impressionable minds into doing wrong things. Shouldn’t the I & B minister have the courage to admit that it is real life that has influenced reel life this time? Come on, Naqvi, be a sport — and an honest one at that!

AARZOO

Dayavanti Pictures’ Aarzoo (UA) is a love triangle which is an insult to the viewer’s common sense. The story is one which has been seen in many films earlier and the screenplay is poor.

A rich girl is in love with a pilot but her father is keen that she get married to her childhood friend. The father’s keenness stems from the word he had given to the boy’s dying father. To ensure that his promise is fulfilled, the girl’s father hatches a conspiracy to kill the pilot and almost succeeds. But the pilot survives the stage-managed deadly accident and returns, after years, to seek revenge and win his girlfriend back (who by then is married to the same childhood friend and has also given birth to the pilot’s child). The pilot’s return coincides with the realisation that dawns on the lady about her husband’s (childhood friend’s) true love for her and she is ready to consummate her marriage after so many years. Torn between her lover and her husband, she finds herself in a dilemma but the convenient script, that doesn’t care for logic, comes to her rescue — her husband is killed in the climax, and she returns to her lover.

As the film progresses, one thing emerges quite clearly — that the sole intention of the producers was to make a fast buck and to take the distributors for a royal ride. For, although the film has been shot on eye-pleasing locations and has reasonably lavish song picturisations, no care has been taken of the script and even the making, the two most important things in a film. The cast seems to be totally disinterested.

The heroine shuttles between the two heroes as if she were a ping pong ball. Towards the film’s ending, it almost appears as if she is in a win-win situation because she is bound to get at least one of the two heroes! The pilot is presumed dead but when he returns after about seven years, his grouse is that his lady love did not have the patience to await his arrival! But how should the lady ever know that the pilot was alive? So why blame her? To justify the pilot’s grouse, the lame excuse given is that he (pilot) had written letters to her during that period — letters that never reached her. But when the pilot suspected foul play in the accident that almost claimed his life, why didn’t he suspect similar foul play in the communication through letters? Writer Reema Rakesh Nath and director Lawrence D’souza have no answer to this question as to innumerable others. For instance, why does the childhood friend cry at the girl’s engagement ceremony and guzzle drink after drink in spite of having voluntarily sacrificed his love? Why does the heroine not tell the pilot at the first given chance that her child had been fathered by him and not by her legally wedded husband? Why does the second hero’s diary, set afire, burn the whole room, but yet remain intact for the heroine to read it?

The film relies heavily on clichés. The ‘statue’ punch has not only been seen in many earlier films but has been done to death. The ‘Maa Sheranwali’ song springs up from nowhere and its relevance in the pre-climax (when the pilot’s letters come falling out from behind a Maa Sheranwali calendar) will be lost on the audience due to its poor handling. The point about the pilot being unconscious for several years together, sounds ridiculous! The comedy scenes in the first half are too poor to evoke laughter. The love angle of the childhood friend looks unbelievable as it is sought to be established through a dull song and his diary jottings. Care has not even been taken of the geographical details. The childhood friend returns from abroad but is received at the airport which also is located abroad! The confrontation between the lady and the pilot in the pre-climax is half-hearted. The last four to five reels of the film have been mixed wrongly — there’s no lip-sync with the dialogues spoken. The dialogues are routine.

Madhuri Dixit looks too mature and seasoned to play the role written for her. Even an excellent performer like her has not been able to rise above the dull script. She has, however, looked pretty at places. Akshay Kumar does an average job and looks lost in the second half. Saif Ali Khan is mechanical. Amrish Puri is so-so. Paresh Rawal is competent and raises laughter at places. Aroona Irani has been hopelessly wasted. Laxmikant Berde, too, has no worthwhile role. Reema, Tej Sapru, Mohan Joshi, Mukesh Rishi, baby Sadat, baby Ghazala and baby Sundas lend average support.

Lawrence D’souza’s camerawork is very good but the same can’t be said of his direction which is dull, to say the least. Music is a mixed bag. The ‘Ab tere dil mein’ is very well-tuned; the ‘Saajan’, ‘Tu soni kudi’ and title tracks are good. But the engagement song and the ‘Mehbooba’ number are poor. Foreign locations are extremely eye-pleasing. Action scenes look contrived. The gliding scene in the climax is unintentionally hilarious! Editing is poor. Background music is ordinary. Technically, weak (as mentioned above).

On the whole, Aarzoo is an insipid fare and an exercise in futility at the expense of gullible distributors who will stand to lose heavily.

Released on 18-3-’99 at Metro and 2 more cinemas and on 19-3-’99 at 15 other cinemas of Bombay by Dayavanti Distributors thru Shringar Films. Publicity: very good. Opening: dull. …….Also released all over. Opening was poor in several circuits. (A disastrous drop in collections was noticed in cities like Indore on the 2nd day.)

RAMESH SHARMA SHOT AT

Producer Ramesh J. Sharma was shot at by unidentified persons on the evening of 19th March at Bandra Reclamation in Bombay. He was rushed to the nearby Lilavati Hospital at Bandra, where, at the time of going to the press, he was being operated upon. The operation, according to his wife, was to last five hours. The bullets were fired on his face and abdomen, it is learnt. Ramesh Sharma was supervising a set being erected for his BAAGHI when the assailants attacked. A couple of arrests have reportedly been made.

ANOTHER CINEMA CLOSED

One more cinema of Shahdol (C.I.) — Kiran — has downed shutters. Now, only one cinema is running at Shahdol.

U.P. GOVT. GETS TOUGH ON COPYRIGHT VIOLATIONS

The Uttar Pradesh government has notified that all cable operators must produce before the district entertainment tax officer, the copyright certificates of all films to be shown on their networks, seven days prior to their telecast. It has further notified that in case a cable operator fails to produce the certificate at least three days before a film’s telecast, his licence would be revoked. Accordingly, all entertainment tax officers in the state have been directed to prepare a list of all films shown on cable TV and launch proceedings against defaulters in this regard. An additional licence fee of Rs. 100 per connection has also been levied on the cable operators apart from the existing annual fee of Rs. 2,400.

JAWAHARLAL BAFNA BACK HOME

Producer Jawaharlal Bafna, who had left home on 12th March after the release of his Aaag Hi Aag that day and who was untraceable since then, finally returned home on 15th night. He had been to Ahmedabad, says he.

NEW CINEMA IN BOMBAY

Sahitya Sangh Mandir in Bombay, which exclusively staged plays so far, has also begun screening films with Vahinichi Maya (Marathi; tax-free) from yesterday (19th March). The auditorium has a seating capacity of 818 and will screen only Marathi films in 2 shows daily. On weekdays, films will be screened in the 12.30 p.m. and 3.30 p.m. shows and on Saturdays and Sundays, in the 12.30 p.m. and 9.30 p.m. shows. The tax-free admission rates are Rs. 9.75, Rs. 12.85, Rs. 16 and Rs. 19.10. Further details about the cinema, controlled by Shenoy (of Milap cinema, Kandivli, Bombay), can be had on telephone nos. 385-6303/387-6158.

INDIA’S FIRST MULTIPLEX IN AHMEDABAD

Come 30th April and Ahmedabad will have a designer multiplex called City Pulse Entertainment Complex. Located on the Ahmedabad Gandhinagar expressway, this complex has three cinemas with seating capacities of 550, 450 and 240. There is a common projection room. Besides the cinemas, it has restaurants, fast food joints, bowling alleys, video parlours, an art gallery, 5-star suites and a swimming pool.

The cinema complex has been constructed by Ashok Purohit who is also a leading architect of the walled city of Gujarat. The cinemas will be managed by Nandu Bohra.

VATSA OFFICE ATTACKED: RAVI BURMAN ESCAPES UNHURT

A group of depositors of Vatsa Corporation Limited attacked the Vatsa Music office at Fort (Bombay) recently. They also threatened to beat up Ravi Burman, the chairman of the company.

Due to persisting financial problems, Vatsa has not been able to pay back the interest money and principal amounts to its depositors.

The mob forcibly entered the premises, breaking the glass door, window panes and other furniture. Burman, who was in his cabin, escaped unhurt.

PRODUCER ASHOK ROY DEAD

Producer Ashok Roy died at a hospital in Bombay on 19th March due to a liver problem. He was 63 and is survived by his son, Sanjay Roy (who is working as Vimal Kumar’s chief accountant), and a daughter.

Ashok Roy had produced Ek Khilari Bawan Pattey. Before turning producer, he used to work as the general manager of J. Om Prakash’s production concern. He also worked as the production incharge of Surinder Kapoor’s company and N.P. Ali’s company.

MOTI SAGAR DEAD

Yesteryears’ hero Moti Sagar passed away on 14th March in Bombay following a cardiac arrest. He was 72 and is survived by three daughters, including singer Preeti Sagar and television anchor-person Namita Sagar.

Moti Sagar had acted in films like Apna Ghar, Burma Road and Chhoti Chhoti Batein. At the time of his death, he had been producing and directing the TV serial Phulwari Bachchon Ki since the last seven years.

MUSIC DIRECTOR EJAZ HUSSEIN NO MORE

Music director Ejaz Hussein of the music director duo Pradeep Udhas – Ejaz Hussein passed away in Bombay on 6th February due to a cardiac arrest. The duo has composed the music for the ready-for-release Hote Hote Pyaar Ho Gaya. Ejaz is survived by his wife and two sons.

FIRST SUPERMAN OF FILMS PASSES AWAY

Kirk Alyn, the first Superman of films, died on 14th March in Woodlands, Texas (USA). He was 88. Kirk, at the age of 37, played the title role in Columbia’s Superman for the first time and once again played Superman in Atom Man Vs. Superman in 1950.

PRODUCTION NEWS

‘Haseena Maan Jayegi’ Last Schedule

Anu Malik recorded the seventh and last song of Rahul Productions’ Haseena Maan Jayegi on March 16 at Empire Audio Centre. It was penned by Sameer and rendered by Sonu Nigam and Alka Yagnik. The film is being produced by Smita Thackeray and directed by David Dhawan. The last two songs of the film will be picturised from March 24 to 30 in Bombay on Sanjay Dutt, Govinda, Karisma Kapoor and Aroona Irani. Also in the cast are Pooja Batra, Paresh Rawal, Kader Khan, Satish Kaushik, Mohan Joshi, Aasif Sheikh and Anupam Kher alongwith Bindu and Asrani in guest appearances. Story-screenplay: Yunus Sejawal and Imtiaz Patel. Dialogues: Rumi Jafri. Cinematography: K.S. Prakash Rao. Action: Mahendra Verma. Art: R. Verman. Dances: Ganesh and B.H. Tharun Kumar. Sound: Vinod Potdar. Editor: A. Muthu. The film is presented by Bharat Shah and is being readied for June 24 release all over.

‘Sooryavansham’ Post-Production Work In Madras

Padmalaya Combines’ Sooryavansham was shot from March 1 to 16 in Hyderabad. Climax scenes and a song were picturised on the entire cast. Dubbing of the film began on March 17 at Media Arts in Madras. Amitabh Bachchan is completing his dubbing first. The recording of background music will begin from March 26. The shooting of the film is already complete except for the picturisation of two songs to be done from March 31 to April 9. The film is being readied for release on May 6. Others in the cast are Soundarya, Anupam Kher, Bindu, Shivaji Satam, Mukesh Rishi, Jaya Kapoor, Rachna Banerjee, master Anand Vardhan and Kader Khan. Producer: G.A. Seshagiri Rao. Director: E.V.V. Satyanarayana. Story: Vikraman. Music: Anu Malik. Lyrics: Sameer. Dialogues: Aadesh K. Arjun. Choreography: Chinni Prakash. Cinematograhy: S. Gopal Reddy.

MUSIC INFORMATION

HMV Celebrates 50 Years Of R.K.

HMV has released a 3-cassette pack of R.K.’s hits, titled ‘R.K. Films – A 50 Year Celebration’.

CENSOR NEWS

A.K. International’s Anari No. 1, applied on 16th and seen on 17th, has been issued C.C. No. CIL/1/15/99 (U) dt. 18-3-’99; length 4573.52 metres in 18 reels (no cut).

D.M.S. Films’ International Khiladi, seen on 15th, has been issued C.C. No. CIL/3/14/99 (A) dt. 19-3-’99; length 5270.83 metres in 18 reels (cuts: 99.19 metres).

Matharu Films’ Lafda was given C.C. No. CIL/3/13/99 (A) dt. 12-3-’99; length 3972.95 metres in 15 reels (cuts: 191.48 metres).

Gulab Films’ Bhoot Ka Darr was given C.C. No. CIL/1/14/99 (U) dt. 17-3-’99; length 2327.17 metres in 13 reels (no cut).

Goel Screencraft’s Safari has been passed with U certificate, with minor cuts.

Karishma International’s Jaanam Samjha Karo, see on 16th, has been passed with U certificate, with cuts.

2000 Films’ Tan Aggan (revised) has been passed for adults, with cuts.

Well Make Films’ Kaamdev has been refused certificate.

YOU ASKED IT

What is the meaning of Gaj Gamini, the title of M.F. Hussain’s film? Is Shah Rukh Khan playing a role in the film.

– The title signifies a woman who has the gait (walk) of an elephant. Yes, Shah Rukh Khan will make a special appearance in the film.

What do you think of the multiple film awards functions?

– It’s a joke, so just enjoy it! Jokes apart, the awards functions serve to fan the massive egos of the industry people who will keep cribbing about them and yet keep attending all of them and, maybe, even performing in them.

How is it that Deepak Sareen has not bagged any directorial assignment after the success of Jab Pyaar Kisise Hota Hai?

– Maybe, because of his shy disposition, he may not be pushing himself in this dog-eat-dog industry. He is already directing Tips’ ALBELA. A couple of more announcements with Deepak as director are on the cards.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Talent Waiting To Be Tapped

Mazhar Kamran is an interesting person to talk to, apart from being an ace cinematographer that he, obviously, is, as proved in Ram Gopal Varma’s Satya and Kaun. A graduate from FTII, Pune, Kamran got his first big break when Muzaffar Ali (he directed Umrao Jaan, remember?) offered him the lesser-known Husn-E-Jaana for BiTV. A few documentaries and short films later, Kamran landed the plum assignment of cinematography of Satya. At that point, Satya had already been shot 25% by American cinematographer Gerard Hooper. Recounting the experience, Kamran says, “I was extremely surprised when Varma offered me Satya. He had called me after a common friend had suggested my name to him. We had a very informal chat. At the end of it, he told me, ‘You are doing my film.’ Just like that, I asked him if he would like to see my previous work, and he said that there was no need for it. He said, as long as I was confident of doing my job, he had no problems!” That Kamran not only did his job, but more, is evident from the ‘real’ visual appeal of Satya. This must have been the reason why Ram Gopal Varma signed Kamran on for his next, Kaun, a couple of weeks before the release of Satya.

Kamran is currently negotiating a few offers, but “nothing concrete at the moment”. He feels that not knowing many people in the industry may prove to be a disadvantage for him. But that shouldn’t come in the way of real talent, should it?

Love Is In The Air…

And this snippet requires absolutely no comment. Take a look at the films lined up for release in the next few weeks — Silsila Hai Pyar Ka, Hote Hote Pyaar Ho Gaya, Hogi Pyar Ki Jeet, Pyar Mein Kabhi Kabhi, Pyar Koi Khel Nahin.

Now, if only everyone in the industry loved each other so much. Alas…..

Dream Merchant

It’s An Ad Mad World Of Bollywood

Film artistes are doing more commercial advertisements than films these days. Or so it appears if you go by the number of times the commercials are repeated every day on every satellite channel. Aamir Khan may not have sold his Sarfarosh the way he is hard-selling Coke these days. Cool dude Salman Khan makes you reach out for the cool Thums Up in its commercial even as he ‘sells’ Jaanam Samjha Karo in another ad. Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol and Ranee Mukerji, the trio that made millions of hearts go aflutter in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, are these days trying to sell you Pepsi. And so, naturally, I had to dream about our stars and the products they’d endorse.

Sunny Deol was the ideal choice for Iodex. His back problem is by now as famous as his dare-devil stunts on screen. Imagine Sunny Deol exhorting the public to buy Iodex with the line,

“Iodex maliye, shooting pe chaliye.”

Govinda, I dreamt, was trying very hard to bag the ad film of HMT Watches, after the commercial of Godrej’s Ganga Soap in which he acted under the direction of none other than Shekhar Kapur. But the HMT people were wary of his reputation of being late everywhere. Govinda, it seems, put them at ease by writing his own ad script for HMT:

Main to late late jaa raha tha
Main to producers ko sataa raha tha
Late late ja raha tha
Producers ko sataa raha tha
Achhee ghadi na mili to main kya karoon
Achhee ghadi na mili to main kya karoon

After this song, Govinda would break into a jig with the following song:

O kaale patte wali tera naam toh bata
O gol dial wali tera naam toh bata
Tera naam toh bata, tera naam toh bata

Obviously, the naam of the gold dial and kaale patte wali watch will be HMT. After the HMT blah-blah, Govinda would finally announce in his typical English:

I was always late
Till Watch No. 1 became my new mate
Now you see my success rate
It will really be great.

Last heard, Govinda was late for the shooting of the commercial by just 14 hours. And so, he’s out!

Kashmira Shah had been roped in for the Roopam ad. The ad was short, like her mini dresses in films, and sweet, not like the fate of some of her releases. Clad in clothes, Kashmira would announce:

“Jee haan, main bhi kapde pehenti hoon
Agar woh Roopam ke ho”.

Ting Tong!!

The makers of Moov ointment, I dreamt, were roping in the all-India distributors of films starring Akshay Kumar and Akshaye Khanna. “Aa-a-a-a-a-a-a-a hamari kamar”, the distributors would wail in chorus.

“Kamar mein dard hai?”,
Akshay Kumar would ask.
“Toh Moov lagaao”,
Akshaye Khanna would advise.
“Arrey nahin, hamari toh
kamar toot gayee re,
aisi filmein release kar-kar ke”,

the distraught distributors would reply.

“Toh phir Move ho jaao”,
Akshaye would say,
“Aur hamari agli filmein mat kharido”,
Akshay Kumar would conclude.

Shah Rukh Khan would advertise for Balbharti Learner’s Hindi Academy.

“Jaise maine seekhi, aap bhi
seekhiye — shudh Hindi —
Balbharti Learner’s Hindi Academy se.
K.K.K.K…..se Kiran.
D….D….D…. se Darr.”

Aishwarya Rai seemed to be the first choice for the Kitply ad film. The whole ad would be in the same format as at present except for the end. In the ad currently on air, the model, drenched in pouring water, shouts, “Arrey bhai, main Kitply nahin hoon.” In the new ad, a drenched Aishwarya, clad in Jeans, would sob,

“Arrey bhai, aur paani daalo,
aakhir main bhi Kitply hi hoon.”

The only hitch is, the wooden actress is demanding the price of rosewood for the Kitply commercial.

K.C. Bokadia and Amitabh Bachchan would come together again. No, no, not for a feature film but for an ad film. In the typical Bokadia style, the product to be advertised would be decided later but the catchline had already been finalised. Just like Bokadia’s scripts are finalised after his shooting schedules! Anyway, without being bitchy, let’s come back to the catchline. Actually, one of the following two short-listed catchlines was to be finalised. While Bokadia preferred the former, Bachchan was keen on the latter. The two catchlines:

(1) Bore ka jhatka dheere se lage.
(2) Crore ka jhatka dheere se lage.

Rakesh Roshan, I dreamt, had been approached to appear in the commercial for Head & Shoulders Shampoo. Roshan Sr. was priding himself in the industry, saying that the H & S people had selected him, only because he was the only successful filmmaker who had his head on his shoulders. Did the others have their shoulders on their heads? Anyway, Rakesh Roshan would move round and round like Pooja Batra does in the Head & Shoulders commercial. Only thing, since Rakesh is bald, there wouldn’t be the healthy flowing hair. The punch-line would be:

Head & Shoulders apnaayen.
Na rahega baal, na bajegi dandruff ke kaaran band!

Quite a Bald & Beautiful ad, this.

Mahima Chaudhry, I dreamt, had been thrown out of the Nirma detergent ad. The ad filmmaker was none other than Raj Kanwar and, therefore, poor Mahima couldn’t get her lines properly. Perhaps, she was so obliged towards Raj Kanwar that she kept making a mistake. Instead of singing.

Nirma detergent tikiya
Iske jhaag ne jadoo kar diya,

the discovery of Subhash Ghai kept singing,

Nirma detergent tikiya
Iske Daag ne jadoo kar diya.

The ad film producer was livid. “Listen,” he thundered, “Nirma is for removing daags, not for creating daags. If we have to make a film for daag, we’d rather take Monica Lewinsky to act, and Bill Clinton to direct, not you and Raj Kanwar.” Mahima blushed — at the producer’s sense of humour — and wept at being thrown out.

Rambha had been signed for the Close Up commercial but language was her problem. Able to understand neither English nor Hindi, the sexy actress, nevertheless, flew from Madras for the shooting. She reported in a mini frock with cycling shorts underneath. Everytime the director shouted, “Action”, Rambha would lift her mini up. The perplexed director didn’t know what had hit this Rambha-ho-idli-sambhar-ho and ‘closed up’ on her. To his dismay, he realised that Rambha had mistaken the commercial as one for Clothes Up instead of Close Up! Curtains down!!

Salman Khan was planning to do a commercial for VIP Underwears. With his penchant for posing topless with his Calvin Klein underwear band showing from under his pants, the sexy Khan would declare:

“Ab yeh Under ki baat hai!”

The only product, perhaps, for which a suitable star was not being found was Fair & Lovely cream. When approached, Mamta Kulkarni said, she’d rather appear in an ad for Bare & Lovely. Hairy Anil Kapoor scoffed at the offer of Fair & Lovely and announced that he was due to shoot topless for a commercial of Hair & Lovely.

Gosh! I woke up with a start. I had dreamt too many things, some of them frighteningly funny and some scaringly stupid. It was, so to say, a Nightmare & Lovely!

– Komal Nahta

 

SILSILA HAI PYAR KA

N.N. Sippy Productions’ Silsila Hai Pyar Ka (UA) is a love story with a routine script. The boss of a huge industrial empire is worried about his good-for-nothing son whose only passion in life is to flirt and womanise. To mend the ways of his wayward son, the father appoints a secretary for his son. The idea is that the secretary, with her simplicity, will bring a change in the boy’s life. Although the girl does manage to bring about a change in the boy, she can do so only after shedding her simplicity and instead becoming a glamour doll. The girl’s mission, though, she realises, is only half-complete. For, while the boy starts taking interest in his father’s business, he yet treats girls as playthings. This infuriates the secretary with whom the boy tries to act fresh. Meanwhile, there’s a business tycoon who lures the boy and his secretary to participate in a business venture with him. His aim is to get married to the sexy secretary. How the boss and her secretary escape from the clutches of the tycoon forms the climax. Ultimately, the boy realises that he loves his secretary, and the two of them are united in matrimony by their happy families.

The film meanders from here to there and appears directionless at several places. It is a sad mistake on the part of the writers (Shrabani Deodhar, Robin Bhatt and Akash Khurana) that the very simplicity of the girl, which is given so much importance to by the father, proves futile to improve the son. Again, the secretary seems to be working in two directions — one, in fulfilling her duties as a secretary, and secondly, in trying to win over the boss’ heart because she loves him since college days. Although not wrong, this does dilute the virtues of the secretary. Had she been shown as single-mindedly fulfilling her professional duties only, the audience would have been able to sympathise with her character. The track of the business tycoon does not go well with the rest of the story and seems to have been incorporated only to add some drama to a simple plot. The climax (with Johny Lever) is truly pathetic. Emotions fail to touch the heart. On the plus side are a couple of songs, beautiful foreign locations and, to some extent, the comedy track of Shakti Kapoor and Tiku Talsania. K.K. Singh’s dialogues are very good when he doesn’t resort to clichés.

Karisma Kapoor does extremely well. Although she looks very good in the glamorous role, she evokes sympathy with a sincere performance in the role of a simpleton. Chandrachur Singh has not been able to handle the roles of a playboy and a boss with ease. He is good at times but not up to the mark at other times. Danny Denzongpa performs ably but his character adds nothing worthwhile to the story. Aroona Irani is fair in a small role. Shakti Kapoor is entertaining. Tiku Talsania is really good. Alok Nath, as the hero’s father, is natural to the core. Johny Lever has been wasted; he has not been able to evoke much laughter in a role that is ill-defined. Mishkaa Khanna makes an average debut and so does Neelam Singh. Dina Pathak, Babban Yadav and the rest pass muster.

Shrabani Deodhar’s story relies too much on clichés and offers nothing new whatsoever to the viewer. Her direction is just about fair. Jatin Lalit’s music is good. The title song, ‘Dil to pagal hai’, ‘Padosan ke ghar’ and ‘Suno suno ladkiyon’ are appealing numbers. While the songs have been picturised on heavenly outdoor locations or rich sets, choreography could have been far better. Debu Deodhar captures the visual beauty of foreign landscapes ably. Editing is weak. Art direction (R. Verman) and production values are very good. Technically, okay. Action scenes are average.

On the whole, Silsila Hai Pyar Ka is a weak fare. Having taken a slow start, it cannot be expected to pick up as it has no novelty. However, it should do a bit better in Bombay.

Released on 16-4-’99 at Liberty and 12 other cinemas of Bombay thru Janata Film Distributors. Publicity: very good. Opening: ordinary. …….Also released all over. Opening was dull everywhere.

ZULMI

Chaudhry Enterprises’ Zulmi (A) is a vendetta drama. An honest thakur is gunned down by an underworld don, but before dying, the thakur asks his trusted lieutenant to take care of his grandson, the only living member of the family. The grandson grows under the guardianship of his grandfather’s trusted man. He (grandson) is a no-gooder and indulges in womanising. He once forces a girl to kill herself when she cannot escape his advances to rape her. The dead girl’s brother (hero) naturally is waiting for an opportunity to seek revenge. So is the grandfather’s lieutenant waiting to avenge his master’s death. By quirk of fate, the hero is picked up by the lieutenant. But once the hero realises that the one whom he wants to kill is the grandson, all hell breaks loose. Simultaneously, the grandfather’s killers join forces with the evil grandson to kill his own guardian. Ultimately, the grandson has a change of heart and sacrifices his life to save the hero’s. The hero then gets married to his beloved, the lieutenant’s daughter.

The story is replete with oft-repeated incidents, and the turns and twists in the drama barely manage to engage the viewers’ attention. The lieutenant shielding his ward only because he had given his word to the dying master to take care of him looks unjustified — more so because the ward is a rapist and a murderer. The hero sermonising (in the climax) about why he would not kill the grandson looks totally unjustified.

Screenplay is quite shoddy. Dialogues are good but only at places. Climax is not very believable. In fact, the entire second half is dull.

Akshay Kumar acts reasonably well. He excels in stunts. Twinkle Khanna looks pretty and does an average job. Amrish Puri is so-so. Milind Gunaji is not impressive. Dalip Tahhil does a fair job. Aroona Irani does not get much scope but acts well. Rakhee Malhotra leaves a mark. Ghanshyam is good. Dara Singh, Deep Dhillon, Aroon Bakshi and the rest lend fair support.

Kuku Kohli’s direction is hardly any better than his story. He takes recourse to clichés in both, writing and narration. Music is quite a letdown and song picturisations are dull. Only a couple of songs have hummable tunes but even they are not of the hit variety. Action scenes (Kala Singh) have been very well composed. There is a good dose of action for front-benchers. Camerawork is ordinary and so are the other technical and production values.

On the whole, Zulmi is a dull fare with not much of an initial value.

Released on 16-4-’99 at Dreamland and 20 other cinemas of Bombay thru Metro Films. Publicity & opening: so-so. …….Also released all over. Opening was poor everywhere.

BANK FINANCE FOR FILMS ON ANVIL?

A decision to finance film production has reportedly been taken by a committee of Indian Banks’ Association (IBA), headed by Bank of Baroda chairman K. Kannan. The committee was constituted a year back expressly to examine the issues connected with film financing. The BJP government, it may be recalled, had granted industry status to film business in May ’98 and bank finance for films was assumed to be a natural corollary to the industry status.

It is expected that banks would finance film projects at a premium of 3% over their prime lending rates (PLR). Since the existing PLR of most commercial banks is 12%, it would mean that banks would lend to film projects at 15% p.a.

The final draft of the IBA committee’s report is expected to be submitted to the IBA once the committee members endorse it. The committee’s terms of reference cover the current status of the industry, including its present funding arrangements, the risk factors, bankability of filmmaking with reference to credibility of the borrower, viability of operations, security aspects and safeguards to be taken to insulate the banks from a high risk level. The committee, it is learnt, has also looked into the issue of collateral at length.

RAMESH PATEL DEAD

Laboratory owner Ramesh Patel passed away on 14th April in Bombay. He was 63 and had been ailing since some time. A bypass surgery of the heart on 26th March at Bombay Hospital in Bombay led to several severe complications. He underwent yet another major surgery on 12th April and finally died on the morning of 14th. His only son was in London when Ramesh Patel died. His funeral was held on 15th morning. He was cremated at the Chandanwadi electric crematorium. He is survived by his wife, a son, a daughter and other family members.

Ramesh Ambalal Patel, alongwith brothers late Kantilal and Shashikant and Indukumar, looked after Filmcenter, one of the premier film laboratories of the country, started by his father. He was the chairman and managing director of Filmcenter.

A genial gentleman, Ramesh Patel was very co-operative and helpful, too. It is an irony that the man who toiled so hard to establish Filmcenter should have passed away in the year in which the laboratory was celebrating its golden jubilee.

Ramesh Patel was also a director in PolyGram India Ltd. and Patel India Pvt. Ltd. He was a partner in Cine Film Distributors, the agency for Fuji color negative, and Recording Center.

Filmcenter remained closed on 14th and 15th. Besana will be held today (17th April) between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. at Filmcenter.

YOU ASKED IT

How much business has the Gujarati blockbuster Desh Re Joya Dada Pardesh Joya done in Bombay city?

– It has done over 9 lakh in Bombay city-suburbs and Thane. In fact, looking to its huge success in Bombay, another Gujarati film, LAKHTAR NI LAADI NE VILAYAT NO VAR, will be released in Bombay city next week.

Like our films, even our cricket team is faring badly. What would you say to that?

– In filmi style, let me put it this way: Without INTERNATIONAL KHILADI (Sachin Tendulkar), the Indian cricket team is ANARI NO. 1!

Why are veteran filmmakers failing these days? And what is the reason for several young directors, too, not making successful films?

– Veterans have the experience but many of them are out of synch with today’s generation and their requirements. The youngsters, on the other hand, may be in tune with the times but often, they lack experience.

PRODUCTION NEWS

‘Sooryavansham’ Towards First Copy

Padmalaya Combines’ Sooryavansham, presented by Krishna, is now in the mixing stage at Media Arts, Madras. The first copy is expected to be out by April 25. Produced by G.A. Seshagiri Rao and directed by E.V.V. Satyanarayana, the film stars Amitabh Bachchan (as father and son), Soundarya, Anupam Kher, Bindu, Shivaji Satam, Jaya Kapoor, Rachna Banerjee, Mukesh Rishi, master Anandvardhan and Kader Khan. Music: Anu Malik. Lyrics: Sameer. Story: Vikraman. Dialogues: Aadesh K. Arjun. Cinematography: S. Gopal Reddy. Choreography: Chinni Prakash and Saroj Khan.

‘Chal Mere Bhai’ In Bangalore

An 8-day shooting schedule of Neha Arts’ Chal Mere Bhai will commence in Bangalore on April 23. The entire cast, including Sanjay Dutt, Salman Khan, Karisma Kapoor, Dalip Tahhil, Sushma Seth, Shakti Kapoor, Himani Shivpuri, Satish Kaushik, Asrani, Javed Khan, Ghanshyam, Suresh Bhagwat and Rajoo Shreshtha, will participate. Being produced by Nitin Manmohan and directed by David Dhawan, the film is based on a story by Ikram Akhtar and screenplay written jointly by Ikram Akhtar and Yunus Sejawal. Dialogues: Rumi Jafri. Music: Anand Milind. Lyrics: Sameer. Cinematography: Harmeet Singh. Art: R. Verman. Choreography: Ganesh Acharya. Editing: A. Muthu. Gaurav Digital presents the film.

MIX MASALA

GOOD ACTOR, GOOD PRANKSTER

Television actor Anup Soni’s answering machine on his telephone has a cute message. It first says: “Hello!” Then, after a small pause, the voice says, “Yes”. After another small pause, the same voice asks, “Who’s this?” Again a second’s pause. And then in Hindi: “Kaun?” And then, after yet another pause, the voice, amidst mild laughter, says, “Come on yaar, this is just an answering machine,” followed by the usual “leave your name and telephone number” etc. etc. Since the message doesn’t sound like a taped message, the more gullible caller (say, Rajesh) is likely to fill the pauses thus:
Tring Tring
Answering machine: “Hello!”
Rajesh: “Hello. Anup?”
AM: “Yes.”
Rajesh: “Anup, Rajesh here.”
AM: “Who’s this?”
Rajesh: “Rajesh, Rajesh”
AM: “Kaun?”
Rajesh: “Arre, Rajesh.”
AM: “Come on yaar, ……”

Try it out. But since you’ve been forewarned, don’t fall prey to Anup’s prank. And yes, his telephone no. is 632-8083. And yes again, the guy, besides being a good prankster, is also a good actor. But proof of that comes on the small screen, not on the small telephone or the smaller answering machine.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

No Male Chauvinism, This

Although it has been said umpteen times, it wouldn’t be out of place to repeat it here. That heroines rarely, if ever, command an initial. However popular may be the heroine of a film, she cannot ensure an opening to a film. For a housefull initial, the audience must see the name of a saleable/popular hero in the film’s cast. Otherwise, a film cannot hope to get a decent opening. As happened this week in the case of N.N. Sippy’s Silsila Hai Pyar Ka. With Chandrachur Singh’s career today being as exciting as the prospect of a teetotaller being offered a glass of whisky, there’s no hero figure in SHPK to lure the first-day audience. Therefore, despite two songs of the film being reasonably popular and in spite of the fact that the film’s heroine, Karisma Kapoor, has had a release after more than a year, the film has opened to houses ranging from dull to average. Silsila hai male figure ka, wot?

Publicity, Not Akshay, Does The Trick

If Silsila Hai Pyar Ka did not take a happy start, similar was the case of Zulmi. After the bumper opening of Akshay starrer International Khiladi, many in the trade were expecting Akshay’s Zulmi too to open very well. But what such people forgot to appreciate was that International Khiladi took a flying start not because of Akshay but rather because of the bumper publicity of the film. The stunts, glimpses of which were shown in the film’s promotional trailers, had created a pretty good impression on the audience and that ensured that International Khiladi opened to swell houses.

Dancing Hero Caught On Wrong Foot

The dancing hero has done it this time. Not satisfied with the collections of his recently released film, he resorted to, what in filmi parlance is called, ‘feeding’. That is to say, he had unsold tickets in several cinemas of Bombay city on the 5th, 6th and 7th days of the first week, torn. The irony is that the film was, even without the ‘feeding’, behaving well in Bombay and the rest of Maharashtra. The alarming drop in collections came in other parts of the country, particularly in East Punjab, Rajasthan, Bengal and Bihar, besides other circuits. But our dancing hero, obviously, couldn’t ‘feed’ there. Perhaps, he is under the impression that producers only see the collections of Bombay city and suburbs before deciding on a hero’s market price. Maybe, the dancing hero is in a mood to jack up his price and so this feeding. Or maybe, the hero simply wants to fan his ego by reading inflated collections of his film, in trade papers. But not all trade papers can fall prey to this feeding trick, what say Hero No. 1?

Release Postponed

Rakesh Roshan’s Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai will not make it to the cinemas in August or September (as planned) because the shooting schedule in New Zealand this month has been cancelled. Rakesh Roshan reached New Zealand and was disappointed to see that the flowers he had expected to see in full bloom at the locations, which were finalised, weren’t there. Rather than shoot on the locations without the flowers, Rakesh preferred cancelling the stint. Obviously, therefore, the film’s completion has been postponed and, so, its release too. It will now be released in November.

Enough Of Prateeksha: Bank Now Wants ‘Prateeksha’

Rumours are rife that Canara Bank may attach the famous Prateeksha bungalow of Amitabh Bachchan at Juhu, Bombay. The bank has moved the Bombay high court, seeking permission to attach the bungalow to recover its dues. The bungalow is said to be worth Rs. 12 crore. The bank has charged AB Corp chairman Amitabh Bachchan and vice chairperson Jaya Bachchan for the non-payment of bank advances to the tune of Rs. 14 crore. The two of them had stood guarantee for the borrowing by ABCL. But Amitabh has told the Bombay high court that his bungalow is mortgaged to Sahara India. It may be pointed out here that the bank swung into action as AB Corp was referred to the Board for Industrial & Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) on 22nd March this year. Once a company is in the BIFR fold, it need not pay back the owed funds to banks and financial institutions until the BIFR comes up with a rehabilitation package and this may take years to materialise. AB Corp is also said to be owing money to a host of other banks.

300 Films In 365 Days

Kishore Talkies, Burhanpur, may have set a record of sorts by exhibiting as many as 300 films in 1998. Sometimes, two films were screened at the cinema in a single day. Variety is the spice of life, after all!

Canteen Competition

Patrons of Novelty cinema in Bombay are getting the best bargain in intervals. Snacks, cold drinks and mineral water bottles are all available at very reasonable rates. This is so because the cinema has two canteens — one, run by the contractor, and the second, run by the cinema management itself. The management is keen to have a monopoly and is, therefore, desirous of cancelling the contract with the contractor. But the latter is in no mood to leave Novelty. To drive the contractor out of business, the canteen run by the management sells refreshments at truly reasonable rates. So while the management and the contractor fight it out, the cinegoer is happy about the low rates — that is, only if he reaches the right canteen!

TRIPLE CELEBRATIONS IN MEMORY OF L.V. PRASAD

A statue of celebrated filmmaker late L.V. Prasad will be unveiled today (17th January) at Jubilee Hills check post, traffic island in Hyderabad at the hands of Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandra Babu Naidu. The road no. 2 on Banjara Hills will also be renamed as L.V. Prasad Marg today. The honours will be done by B. Satyanarayana Murthy, minister for municipal administration.

A stereo recording theatre will be inaugurated today at Prasad Film Laboratories, Hyderabad, at the hands of A. Madhava Reddy (minister for home and cinematography) and Dr. Akkineni Nageswara Rao.

GANESH JAIN’S DAUGHTER TO WED

Rekha, daughter of Ganesh Jain of Venus Record & Tapes, will wed Sidharth on 1st February at CCI East Lawns, Churchgate, Bombay.

SHAMBHU SEN DEAD

Music director Shambhu Sen Jamal Sen, brother of music director Dilip Sen and father of music director Sameer Sen, expired on 13th January in Bombay due to brain haemmorhage. He was 65 and is survived by his wife, three sons (Sameer, Sanjeev and Lalit Sen), two daughters and five brothers (Madan, Tansen, Inder, Nihal and Dilip Sen).

Shambhu Sen had scored music in Mrig Trishna and Banno.

NEW CINEMA

A new air-conditioned cinema, Saaz, will open at Bhandup, a distant Bombay suburb, in March or April ’98. It is controlled jointly by VIP Exhibitors and H.K. Shah.

SHAHID BIJNORI DEAD

Actor Shahid Bijnori, father of actress Shagufta Ali, expired on 10th January in Bombay. He was 57 and had worked in over 100 films including Bahu Begum. He is survived by his wife and Shagufta.

LAXMINARAYAN KAPOOR BEREAVED

Hukumchand Kapoor, son of Laxminarayan Kapoor of Bharti Film Distributors, Indore, expired on 13th January in Indore.

SWAPNALOK, UDAIPUR MAY CLOSE DOWN

The management of Swapnalok cinema, Udaipur, has decided to close the cinema due to non-payment of dues to distributors by the cinema controllers, Mutha Films, Jodhpur. The management has decided to keep the cinema closed till all the dues are paid and no-dues certificates, presented to it.

MARATHI FILM PRODUCERS QUEUE UP FOR AID

About 43 producers of Marathi films have applied to the Maharashtra government for assistance under the new policy of Rs. 15 lakh aid. In an attempt to revive the dying Marathi film industry, the cultural affairs department of the state government abolished entertainment tax on Marathi films last November and also evolved a scheme for grant of aid of Rs. 15 lakh each to 15 producers every year.

A high-level committee comprising nine Marathi film personalities was recently set up to select the 15 good quality scripts. This committee is expected to finalise the 15 names within a month, and financial aid to produce films based on the approved scripts will be disbursed before 31st March, 1998.

The committee comprises Raj Dutt, Sulochana, Vasant Kanekar, Rohini Hattangady, Charudutt Sarpotdar, D.M. Mirasdar, S.N. Navre, Vijaya Mehta and Mohan Agashe, besides cultural affairs secretary Chitkala Zutshi. It has a 3-year term and has the powers to chalk out the criteria for a ‘good film’.

The 43 producers who’ve applied for the aid have all submitted their scripts to the committee for scrutiny. Cultural affairs minister of Maharashtra, Pramod Navalkar, in the meantime, appealed to Marathi film producers and actors who have switched over to Hindi films, to return to Marathi cinema.

YOU ASKED IT

Will Zor and Banarasi Babu be released on 30th January?

– Yes, they can come on Idd. Work is on on a war-footing on the front of both the films. Insiders, however, reveal that at least one of the two will make it on 30th January.

Why did producer Vashu Bhagnani start his Biwi No. 1 without any fanfare?

– One presumes, Vashu did not have a launch party because his close friend, Ramesh Taurani, is under arrest. Vashu is proving to be a friend no. 1.

Why does the audio cassette of ABCL’s Saat Rang Ke Sapne not mention the name of the music director?

– ABCL’s audio cassettes are manufactured and marketed by Gulshan Kumar’s Super Cassettes. Since the music of SAAT RANG KE SAPNE is scored by Nadeem Shravan and in view of the case against Nadeem vis-
à-vis Gulshan Kumar’s murder, the company has preferred not to mention the names of Nadeem Shravan on the inlay cards.

ANNOUNCEMENT & LAUNCHING

Priyadarshan Directs Akshay, Sunil, Tabu In A.G. Nadiadwala’s Film

Producer A.G. Nadiadwala has signed Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty and Tabu to play the lead roles in A.G. Films (P.) Ltd.’s Prod. No. 21, tentatively titled Raftaar. It will be directed by Priyadarshan. The film went on the sets on Jan. 15 with a 10-day shooting schedule. Two songs have also been recorded. They were penned by Majrooh Sultanpuri and set to tune by Anu Malik. Written by Neeraj Vora, the film has in its supporting cast Pran, Asrani, Gulshan Grover, Rakesh Bedi, Sharat Saxena and Paresh Rawal. Cinematographer: Jeeva. Art: Sabu Cyril.

‘Love Today’ Rolls

Producer Mansoor Ahmed Siddiqui launched Anas Films’ Love Today on Jan. 15 at Gemini Studios, Bombay. The launching is being followed by a week-long shooting schedule. Being directed by Rajat Rawail from his own story, the film stars Jackie Shroff, Govinda (special appearance), Raveena Tandon (special appearance), Priya Gill, Vinay Anand, Sadashiv Amarapurkar, Asha Sachdev, Rajoo Shreshtha, Rakesh Bedi, Javed Khan, Maya Alagh, Neeraj Vora, Razzak Khan and Kiran Kumar. Screenplay: Raju Saigal, S.M. Ahale and Sandeep Bhaumick. Dialogues: Javed Siddiqi. Cinematographer: Nirmal Jani. Action: Hanif. Choreographer: Raju Khan. Art: Sunil Singh. Sound: Vinod Potdar. Lyrics: Sameer. Music: Uttam Singh.

DO YOU KNOW?

* ZOR has been offered a fantastic MG for a small station — Adipur — of Saurashtra. The exhibitor has made an offer of Rs. 25,000 more than the total share of GUPT from two nearby small stations viz. Gandhidham and Anjar!

* HMV has devised a different marketing plan for its BADA DIN due for release in Bombay and Calcutta next week. The plan will rely on tremendous participation from students and other prospective viewers. This is being generated by press campaigns, telemarketing and one-to-one interactions at college campuses. The music (Jatin Lalit) of BADA DIN, it must be added, is gaining in popularity day by day.

* Two internationally renowned singers, Boy George and Apache Indian, will appear in two different songs of Bappi Lahiri’s LOVE STORY ’98. Boy George has already recorded an English song in his own voice and even participated in its picturisation in the recent 10-day shooting schedule in London. Apache Indian will participate in a song picturisation in Bombay.

* NFDC’s CHAR ADHYAY may not be able to stick to its scheduled screenings at the ongoing IFFI in New Delhi as it has not been cleared by the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal. The CBFC objected to a single key scene in the film which is based on Rabindranath Tagore’s 1934 novel. The CBFC cut off a portion of the scene depicting the murder of a woman, because it showed bare flesh, albeit in a flash. Kumar Shahani, the film’s director, also seems to have got into a controversy with the Vishwa Bharati Board which owns the copyrights of all Tagore’s writings and songs. The Board has obtained a stay on the film’s screening on the ground that Kumar Shahani had violated all terms they had agreed upon, barring the financial one. These include okaying the translation of the script by an expert from Vishwa Bharati, having its expert present during the film’s shooting, and obtaining a fresh permission when the film was not completed within the stipulated period of one year. Jaya Bachchan, who has dubbed for heroine Nandini Ghoshal in the film, has urged the registrar of the Vishwa Bharati to withdraw the injunction against the film’s release. She has also resigned as a member of the Vishwa Bharati’s disputes committee.

* Popular television actor Nitish Bharadwaj will be fielded by the BJP from a constituency other than Jamshedpur (from where he won last time) in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan said in a statement in Bombay that a false impression had been created that Nitish was being denied a BJP nomination.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Film With Saraswati, Laxmi For The Other

The Zor dispute relating to East Punjab territory has been settled. The film had reportedly been sold to two distributors, Desh Raj and Saraswati Pictures. One hears, Desh Raj has been given Rs. 8 lakh profit. Laxmi for relinquishing the rights!

Signs Of Revival

Mysore circuit has been a dull circuit as far as deals for Hindi films are concerned ever since the Karnataka government abolished the slab system of taxation and introduced 110% entertainment tax for non-Kannada films. In September last year, entertainment tax was brought down to 70% but this reduction didn’t really help distributors because exhibitors proportionately hiked their rents and, consequently, most of the benefit didn’t reach the distributors. Recently, veteran Mysore distributor R.N. Mandre mustered courage and acquired three films at 10% of the major territory’s price. The films are N.N. Sippy’s Silsila Hai Pyar Ka, J. Om Prakash’s next, to be directed by David Dhawan, and starring Shah Rukh Khan and Karisma Kapoor, and Glamour Films’ untitled under-production venture, starring Jackie Shroff, Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla, and being directed by K. Sashilal Nair. Let’s hope, these three deals prompt producers to be more reasonable in their prices, and distributors to be more enterprising.

1998: The Year Of Anupam Kher?

1998 may well be an eventful year for Anupam Kher who hasn’t had too many releases in the past two years. To start with, he has Zor and Saat Rang Ke Sapne to look forward to. In Saat Rang Ke Sapne, Anupam is the third angle of the love triangle, the other two being Arvind Swamy and Juhi Chawla. As the year progresses, the audience will see Anupam in Salaakhen (“a lovely film, better than Ziddi,” is how Kher describes it), Jhoot Bole Kauva Katay, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, Tips’ Jab Pyar Kisise Hota Hai, Tips’ film, directed by Kundan Shah, and, of course, Feroz Khan’s Prem Aggan.

Lucky Day

It is a matter of joy that both the Gujarati films released last week have not only done very well in the first week but have also been appreciated by the audience. Both, Govindbhai Patel’s Desh Re Joya Dada Pardesh Joya and Amubhai Patel’s Pardesi Maniyaro are raking in good money at the ticket counters. Yet another regional language film, B.S. Shaad’s Laali (Punjab), is also doing very well in Punjab. Laali, too was released last week. Which means, January 9 was a propitious day for regional language films.

PARDES

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TAMIL FILM INDUSTRY TALKS WITH CM FAIL AGAIN

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

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

ON THURSDAY IN C.I.

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

BAN ON ENTRY OF BURKHA-CLAD WOMEN IN CINEMAS FAILS

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

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

‘BORDER’ TAX-FREE IN GUJARAT

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

RECORDIST BABURAO BHALCHANDRA NO MORE

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

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

SANJAY KAPOOR IN AURANGABAD

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

YOU ASKED IT

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

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

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

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

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

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

CENSOR NEWS

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

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

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

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

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

HERE & THERE

Fresh Summons To Sunny, Karisma

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

MIX MASALA

INVITATION ON A PLATTER

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

PASSPORT TO PARDES

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

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Audience Goes Crazy

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

Life-Saving Suit

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

Of ‘Pardes’ At Trimurti

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

Applause for ‘Dus’ From US

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

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

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