‘JUDWAA’ 100 DAYS
Sajid Nadiadwala’s Judwaa has completed 100 days of its run today (May 17) at Liberty, Bombay, and other places. It stars Salman Khan in a double role with Karisma Kapoor, Rambha, Anupam Kher, Shakti Kapoor, Satish Shah, Kader Khan and others. It is directed by David Dhawan and its music is scored by Anu Malik. Purshottam K. Agarwal presents the film.
DISTRIBUTOR RAMBHAI MURDERED
Bombay and Delhi-U.P. distributor Rambhai Patel (Sheetal Films, Ahmedabad-Bombay-Delhi) was brutally murdered on the night of 12th May at Savli near Baroda. His partner in another business, Ramjibhai, was also murdered simultaneously.
Rambhai and Ramjibhai had a flourishing angadia business and had to reportedly recover several crores of rupees from the Somani brothers. When the latter went on postponing the payment, Rambhai and Ramjibhai had an altercation with the brothers a few days before the murders.
It seems that the murders were planned in great detail because Rambhai and Ramjibhai had been summoned by the Somanis to Salvi at the factory of Somani Cement to collect part of their payment. The Somanis, it is learnt, telephoned Rambhai on 11th May and asked him to come to his factory the following day. A reminder phone call was made on 12th too.
The two partners were taken to the godown of the factory on the night of 12th when they reached Somani Cement. By then, the goondas of the Somanis had taken their places in the godown and overpowered the two who least suspected foul play and, therefore, went unarmed. They were beaten with iron rods and wooden sticks, kicked and finally shot dead in true filmi style. Both, Rambhai and Ramjibhai, died on the spot as they could offer little opposition to the gang.
The dead bodies were put in their car and a goon of the Somanis was to set the car on fire at a distance from Savli. But even while preparations were being made to set the car afire at Parthampura village, a police van was passing that way. Sensing danger, the killers fled the scene. The police recovered visiting cards and diaries from the pockets of the two dead persons and, after investigations, arrested the Somani brothers on 15th May. The police suspect that three other persons were also involved in the horrendous murders, but they are still at large.
Rambhai had distributed Deewana, Bewaffa Se Waffa, Mehboob Mere Mehboob and Mashooq in Bombay circuit, and Phool Aur Kaante, Saajan and Sadak in Gujarat. He had also released a film or two in Delhi-U.P.
Rambhai was only 45 years old and is survived by his wife, a son and two daughters. His 13-year old son was away in Ooty on a holiday when the murder took place. The funeral took place at Rambhai’s native place, Balol, on 14th. A post mortem was conducted on 13th.
IN & OUT OF BOMBAY
Producer-director Indra Kumar is on a holiday abroad and will return in the first week of June.
Producer-director Rakesh Roshan left for a holiday abroad on May 13 and will return after a month.
Mr. Raman Maroo of Shemaroo Video will return to India from abroad on 27th May.
Mr. Rajesh Chowdhary of Modern Movies, Jaipur, returned to Jaipur on 16th May.
Mr. Baba Ramdeo of ABC Enterprises, Jaipur, is expected in town after a couple of days and will stay at Royal Inn (649-5151).
Producer Dinesh Salgia is in Indore and will return on 20th May.
Mr. Ashok Tharani of Ashoka Enterprises, Indore, will reach Bombay (634-2335) on 19th May.
Producer Mahendra Dhariwal, presently in Bombay, will leave for Jodhpur (46196) today.
Mr. Kamaldeep Singh Lamba of Kanwaljit Enterprises, Secunderabad, will be in Bombay (98200-74761) from May 19 to 23.
YOU ASKED IT
Jai-Kishen was released recently as Khiladi Hindustani. Anjaam has become Nafrat. Does this title-changing game help?
– In rare cases, it does. By the way, titles of only unsuccessful films are changed, generally speaking. Nobody has tried it with an old hit.
Video pirates have become super-active again. The latest Hindi films are telecast on cable TV channels all over, just two to four days after their theatrical release. Why doesn’t the industry take serious action against such pirates?
– The industry can do nothing till the government decides to help it. So helpless is the industry feeling that it has stopped contemplating taking any action whatsoever, which also is not right.
In 1995, when the government extended the benefit of 50% entertainment tax in Maharashtra for a further period of one year, it did so with the intention that the benefit should be passed on to cinegoers. Is there a similar intention in the current relief?
– No, this time, the government has reduced entertainment tax from 100% to 60% for the benefit of the industry only. Even then, where ticket rates are too high, it would be in the interest of all concerned to pass on at least a part of the benefit to the audience. If the industry does not do so, it may end up killing the hen that laid the golden eggs. For, if admission rates are not brought down in some cinemas, attendance, which is already low, may come down further.
Why? Why? Why?
Some stray thoughts have been crossing my mind for the past few days, which is good food for thought.
Like, why do distributors put the following line in their advertisements in newspapers: ‘To show or see this film on video/cable is illegal’. Has any distributor succeeded in taking action against anybody who shows or sees the latest films on video/cable?
Like, why do we refer to a film’s launching as its muhurt. A muhurt, by its very nature, must be held at the auspicious time. For film muhurts, the auspicious time is not that governed by the stars above but only that when the stars here on earth arrive for the launch. Then, what’s so muhurt-ish about the launching?
Or why do many producers ‘celebrate’ 100 days or silver jubilee of their films even though they run in deficit?
Why do producers flaunt the entry of their songs in countdown shows on the various television channels as a passport to success of their films when the two have no correlation whatsoever?
Why do distributors, when reviving old films, announce that the same have been revived ‘due to public demand’? Does any channel exist for public demand to reach the distributors?
Why, in the interviews on different satellite channels, do the producer/director/actor/ actress always harp on one thing — that my film/role is very different — when the fact is not so. Why can’t they just say that it is entertaining and leave it at that because nobody must be taking this “very different” bit seriously any longer.
Or why do music companies present Platinum and Double or Triple Platinum Discs to music albums when there’s no transparency at all about the album sales and when such Discs have become so common that they do little — or rather nothing — to augment the album sales or brighten up the prospects of a film if the album happens to be a film album?
Why do several producers announce that their films “can be enjoyed on the big screen only” and, yet, sell the video rights of such big-screen entertainers?
Why does the CBFC give ‘A’ and ‘UA’ certificates to films when practically all the films can be seen in cinemas by non-adults or by children unaccompanied by their guardians or without their consent? And these very adult films, after some days, are telecast on channels which have no censorship rules!
Or why do stars make the producers pay their personal make-up man, hair dresser, spot boy, driver? I’m sure, our stars are not so poor that they can’t afford to pay their personal staff adequately. No other profession provides scope for such payment from the person hiring the professional’s services to the professional’s servant, cook etc. etc.
Any why do distributors always cry that the industry is finished, that if prices don’t come down, there’ll be no buyers left, that times have never been as bad as they are today — and, after and in spite of all this, rush to buy films at fancy prices?
Or why do distributors crib that stars don’t run, rather, the film runs, but when it comes to buying films, they want only stars-cast films and will never touch a non-star cast project?
Why does everyone keep saying that the industry is fighting for its very survival even though this ‘dying’ industry has completed 100 years?
And finally, why am I writing all this? Is anything going to change?
– Komal Nahta
3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment
Piracy Of A New Kind
The menace of video piracy has raised its ugly head once again. And this time, with more force than ever before. Although illegal, the latest films are telecast on cable TV throughout the country barely four or five days after their premiere theatrical releases. The video cassettes may be pirated and of poor quality but their telecast and wide reach do make a dent in box-office collections. This piracy is most pronounced in Delhi where pirated video cassettes are openly available. As if this isn’t bad enough, we now have cases of piracy of video CDs too. The pirated video CDs, like the pirated video cassettes of Raja Hindustani, are already available in the market. There is reliable information that due to be out in the market very shortly are video CDs of HAHK..!, DDLJ, Rangeela, Bombay and Judaai. Pertinent to note that official (legal) video cassettes of none of the above films have been released as yet. Piracy of video CDs has spread panic among legal video distributors who used to recover at least a lakh or two from sale of video CD rights. With pirated copies out, this market may be as good as lost now!
Quality-Conscious
The quality-conscious producers and directors taking personal interest in the production of music cassettes of their films is not new. But a music director doing so! Viju Shah deserves a pat on his back for the pains he took in the mastering and duplication of Gupt audio cassettes. He visited the audio plants of Tips outside Bombay and spent hours and hours till he was completely satisfied with the quality. All this, so that the public gets impeccable quality.
And if Viju Shah needs to be complimented for the above, Rajiv Rai also deserves to be congratulated. For, although Gupt is due for release on 4th July, its first copy will be out by the end of May. Reportedly, Rajiv wants that about 10 prints of the film be taken out daily so that complete check can be maintained on their quality. Compare this with the cases of 99% of the films released. Hundreds of prints of such films are prepared in one week!
Madhuri Magic Again?
For those who feel, it’s the end of the road for Madhuri Dixit who has had four failures in a row (Yaraana, Rajkumar, Prem Granth and Koyla), there’s news to the contrary. Madame Dixit, who has not been looking as beautiful as she used to earlier, is, it is heard, looking her glamorous and slim self in Yash Chopra’s Dil To Pagal Hai. Maybe, Madhuri and Chopra’s magic will work, and this Diwali, the actress will have the audience go pagal over her all over again.
‘Sapnay’ Crushed
In Bombay, HMV had tied up with Crush (soft drink) for the publicity of its Sapnay. Hoardings, sponsored by Crush, sprang up all over the city, advertising both, Sapnay and the soft drink. Catchy captions caught the attention of the public. Captions like: ‘Love hurts but a little Crush never hurt anyone’ or ‘Bet you never had a Crush like this’. With the collections of Sapnay coming crashing down day by day in majority of the cinemas, Crush may now well put up hoardings with the following captions: ‘Love hurts but a Big Crash hurts everyone’ and ‘Bet you never saw a Crash like this’.
THE LAST LAUGH
** What are the distributors of Mrituydaata singing in chorus?
