BADAL

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

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

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

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

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

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

LATEST POSITION

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

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

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

……….

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SHOBHNA SAMARTH DEAD

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

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

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

YOU ASKED IT

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shooting Of ‘Water’ In Varanasi

AIFPC’S STRONG LETTER TO U.P. GOVERNMENT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

– Komal Nahta

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Of Rains, Clouds And Crowds

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

Promoting Common Sense

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

Producers Propose…
Bajrang Opposes

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

The Deciding Beats!

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

Jolly Good January

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

So ‘Miff’ed!

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