KOYLA
Filmkraft’s Koyla (A) is an action-filled revenge drama with a romantic track too. A money-hungry villain gets a labourer, working in a coal mine, and his wife killed for the lure of money. So that the only child of the victims should not identify the killers, the villain shoves burning coal down the poor child’s throat and makes him mute. The villain brings up the mute child (who is unaware of the fact that it is the villain who is responsible for his mute status) as his bonded labourer and the latter is ready to lay down his life for his master any time. The master is fond of girls one-third his age and his lust prompts him to marry one such girl. The mute boy rescues the girl from his master’s clutches when he realises the master’s fraud. The two then fall in love but are separated after a while. The mute boy gets back his lost voice and also gets to know that it was his own master who had rendered him mute. Obviously, he avenges the murder of his parents and the atrocities perpetrated on him and his beloved.
The story as such offers little novelty, and the screenplay is good in parts. At times, however, the writers have taken ‘convenience’ as the guiding factor and put logic or sound reasoning in the backseat. As a result, the film has some defects and flaws. For example, the child is rendered mute so that he may not give his witness in the court, but the same mute boy is asked to identify the killers, which he does! And this mute boy is the central character of the story, and his muteness, an important point in the story. The first half moves at a slow pace and it picks up well when the hero rescues the heroine. Even after interval, the really engrossing turns and twists are few and far between. Another drawback is that when the boy gets his voice back after years, there’s not much feeling of joy which the audience experiences, if only because they have not been made to suffer his pain. Comedy is crude and of the kind which would appeal to the masses but would not be quite liked by ladies and family audience. Romance has not been established. Dialogues lack the fire.
On the positive side are: excellent and abundant action, fantastic chase scenes (in particular, the helicopter scenes), beautiful locations, exceptional sound effects (in DTS mixed prints) and a good music score. Some comedy scenes are even hilarious.
Shah Rukh Khan has, no doubt, done extremely well as the mute bonded labourer but it must be conceded that the role of the angry young man does not suit his image. An action hero was the need of the story. Madhuri Dixit lacks glamour and looks fat. Her performance is, however, good, as usual. Her kotha scenes are in excess and don’t appeal. Amrish Puri has got an unduly lengthy role, something which does not appeal. He has performed ably but there’s too much of him. Ashok Saraf and Johny Lever evoke laughter at places. Deepshikha leaves a mark and lends oomph with her uninhibited exposure. Salim Ghose is average. Mohnish Bahl is good in a very brief special appearance. Ranjeet, Jack Gaud, Shubha Khote, Suresh Chatwal, Kunika, Ram Mohan, Himani Shivpuri, Vikas Anand, master Mohsin and master Vicky lend able support.
Rakesh Roshan should have opted for a more substantive plot. Although his direction is good, he ought to have gone easy on the crude comedy. Music (Rajesh Roshan) is very good but the absence of a super-hit and evergreen number is sorely felt. The ‘Bhang ke nashe mein’ song can be deleted. ‘Saason ki mala pe’ also needs to be edited. Picturisation of ‘Hosh na khode kahin’ is very good. ‘Badan juda hote hain’ is musically very good but a sensuous song of this kind deserved a more appropriate picturisaton — it is picturised on a girl who is sensuously dancing in front of her parents! ‘Dekha tujhe to’ is musically very appealing. Bhikoo Verma’s action is splendid and mind-blowing. Production values are good but not as much as the price for which the film has been sold. Camerawork (Sameer Arya) and the Arunachal Pradesh locations complement each other wonderfully. Both are exceptionally good.
On the whole, an unduly high-priced Koyla has an initial value which is simply mind-boggling, but it does not have matching merits and the fire in it. Since it has to depend only on the masses for patronage, it may not cover its high price on the strength of its opening. Even if some distributors do cover their price, exhibitors and third parties, who have paid phenomenal terms, would, in all likelihood, stand to lose. Business in North India will be better. Collections of the first week will undoubtedly be historic.
Released on 16-4-’97 at Madhuban, Dombivli and on 18-4-’97 at Minerva and 22 other cinemas of Bombay thru V.I.P. Enterprises. Publicity: excellent. Opening: bumper. …….Also released all over. Opening was historic everywhere. 1st day East Punjab over-capacity in many centres, full in Delhi-U.P., Bengal, C.P. Berar, Rajasthan (approx. 12,50,000/- on 1st day on 32 prints), full in all 22 cinemas of Hyderabad and Secunderabad.
LATEST POSITION
The phenomenal opening of KOYLA this week has surpassed all expectations… The week that has gone by was good for the box-office due to the various holidays.
Ziddi has done very well and although it dropped at some places mid-week, its first week’s shares are excellent. 1st week Bombay 46,77,874 (83.22%) from 19 cinemas (6 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 6,24,674 from 3 cinemas (4 unrecd.), Vapi 2,95,462, Baroda 100%, theatre record, Padra 2,57,080, record, Bharuch (gross) 2,90,903, Jamnagar 1,57,442; Pune 11,44,928 from 6 cinemas, Solapur 2,72,771 (93.45%) from 2 cinemas; Delhi 46,19,166 (97.67%) from 12 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 4,76,223 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 2,46,603 (100%), Varanasi 1,89,156 (98.40%), Moradabad 1,91,932, city record, Bareilly 1,72,234 (87.31%), Gorakhpur 1,48,176 (100%), theatre record; Amritsar 54,165; Calcutta (6 days) 23,93,542 from 20 cinemas; Rourkela 1,50,000; Nagpur 7,03,340 from 4 cinemas, Jabalpur 2,25,502, theatre record, Amravati 1,27,865, Chandrapur 1,43,709; Jaipur 11,24,766 from 5 cinemas, city record, Jodhpur 7,29,426 from 2 cinemas, Bikaner 3,07,711, city record; Hyderabad 34,15,919 from 16 cinemas, share 16,26,688.
Kaun Sachcha Kaun Jhootha is a washout. 1st week Bombay 6,90,018 (33.03%) from 8 cinemas (8 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 1,43,494 from 4 cinemas (2 unrecd.), Rajkot 36,536 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Pune 1,32,892 from 4 cinemas; Delhi 8,32,440 (22.64%) from 9 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 42,641 from 2 cinemas, Varanasi 32,138, Gorakhpur 36,000; did poor in Calcutta; Nagpur 61,860, Jalgaon (6 days) 23,849; Hyderabad 2,75,341 from 7 cinemas (5 in noon).
Dil Ke Jharoke Main is also miserable. 1st week Bombay 3,66,327 (23%) from 7 cinemas; Pune 69,878 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 34,780; Delhi 3,66,615 (28.24%) from 4 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 34,118; Calcutta (6 days) 2,29,224 from 4 cinemas; Bikaner 38,135; Hyderabad 2,95,087 from 5 cinemas (3 in noon).
……….
Himalay Putra 2nd week Bombay 5,40,081 (45.33%) from 4 cinemas (4 unrecd., 4 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 72,081 (2 unrecd.), Baroda 57,920; Pune 2,51,032 from 4 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur (matinee) 19,232; Delhi 10,42,168 from 8 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 1,24,303 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 1,70,440, Agra 88,790, Varanasi 66,705, Bareilly 55,400 (30.94%), Gorakhpur 53,000; Calcutta (6 days) 2,37,314 from 3 cinemas; Nagpur 54,369 from 2 cinemas, Amravati 45,240, Akola 38,628, 1st week Bhilai 1,13,720 from 2 cinemas, Yavatmal 41,303; 2nd Ujjain 20,200; Jaipur 1,54,005 from 2 cinemas; Hyderabad 3,56,599 from 2 cinemas (1 on F.H.).
Judaai 7th week Bombay 11,15,818 (77.06%) from 3 cinemas (3 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 2,30,457 from 2 cinemas (2 unrecd.), Baroda 1,20,444, Rajkot 68,000, Jamnagar 78,739 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Pune 3,00,141 from 3 cinemas, Kolhapur 79,000, Solapur 82,948, 3rd week Miraj 40,186 (1st 51,613, 2nd 45,429), record; 7th Belgaum 59,874; Delhi 2,77,823 from 2 cinemas; Kanpur (last) 1,00,748, Lucknow 81,936, Agra 48,756, Varanasi 65,082, Gorakhpur 47,000; Nagpur 1,16,363 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur 49,624, total 4,85,792, 6th week Amravati 1,02,150, 7th week Akola 95,703, theatre record, Bhilai 50,217, 2nd week Wardha (6 days) 52,856, 4th Yavatmal 46,826, total 2,21,735; 7th Indore 99,837; Jaipur 74,066; Hyderabad 2,57,851, share 97,196.
Hero No. 1 8th week Bombay 6,49,559 from 3 cinemas; Baroda 38,713, Rajkot 54,400; Pune 1,96,055 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur (matinee) 43,021; Delhi 4,49,102 from 2 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur 88,505 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 1,02,233, Agra 80,735, Varanasi 31,982, Gorakhpur (shifting) 32,000; Calcutta (6 days) 1,13,754; Nagpur 1,28,685 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur 56,885, total 8,48,557, Akola 61,285, theatre record, 7th Bhilai 33,678, 4th Jalgaon 65,568; 8th week Indore 69,760; Jaipur 1,39,090; Hyderabad 4,08,362 from 3 cinemas (2 in noon), share 1,38,962.
Raja Hindustani 19th week Bombay 1,66,960; 22nd week Ahmedabad 70,130, Rajkot (matinee) 13,930; 19th Pune 2,96,222 from 2 cinemas, 18th week Solapur (7 shows) 59,297 (100%); 22nd week Delhi 1,99,384; 23rd week Kanpur 51,341, 22nd Lucknow 84,606, Agra 53,481, 23rd week Varanasi 25,015, Meerut 52,250, 22nd Bareilly 35,628 (19.14%), 23rd Gorakhpur 28,300; 20th week Nagpur 49,005, Jabalpur 70,919, total 31,43,068, 1st Balaghat 1,11,365, 4th Gondia 50,200; 22nd week Indore, 1,16,570; Hyderabad 1,92,181.
MEHTAB DEAD
Mehtab, yesteryears’ leading star and widow of producer-director-actor Sohrab Modi, died in Bombay on April 10. She was 70.
Mehtab’s last film, Jhansi Ki Rani, made by Sohrab Modi in Technicolor, was released in 1953. She joined the film industry during the silent era. She starred in scores of films, prominent being Kidar Sharma’s Chitralekha made in 1941, in which she appeared nude in a bathing scene, Father India, Stree Dharm, Sharda and Sanjog.
PEN OFFICE SHIFTED
Jayantilal Gada of Popular Entertainment Network Ltd. (PEN) has shifted his office, ‘Pen House’, to Asha Colony, Bungalow No. 3, Opp. Sea Princess Hotel, Juhu Tara Road, Juhu, Bombay. A get-together was held on the occasion on April 16.
YOU ASKED IT
For English films, which territories are hot and in what order?
– The hottest territory for English films is Tamilnad-Kerala followed by Andhra, Bombay (excluding Karnataka), Nizam, West Bengal, Delhi, East Punjab, C.P.C.I. Rajasthan and Karnataka in that order.
Who has scored the music in the English film, Fire, starring Shabana Azmi, Nandita Das, Javed Jaffri and Kulbhushan Kharbanda?
– It is a songless film but its background music has been scored by A.R. Rahman. The film is being dubbed in Hindi and from the reports of those who’ve seen FIRE, it appears that the film, if properly exploited, can do wonders in Hindi.
DO YOU KNOW?
* Overseas distributor Kishore Lulla had no words to express how much he had liked the seven songs of Subhash Ghai’s PARDES when he heard them, so he sent Ghai a giant-sized bouquet of flowers. Lulla feels, all the songs are surefire hits.
* There are just 4 Telugu films which have grossed more than 50 lakh from one single cinema. The films are: PREMALAYAM which collected 54,91,762/- in 175 days’ run at Urvasi 70mm, Vijayawada, and 52,67,819/- in 175 days at Chitralaya 70mm, Visakhapatnam; PELLI SANDADI which collected 55,49,866/- in 301 days at Swarna Palace, Vijayawada; BHARATIYUDU which collected 55,02,912/- in 102 days at Venkateshwara Palace, Vijayawada; and NINNE PELLADUTHA which collected 56,64,774/- in 161 days at Raj 70mm, Vijayawada.
* KOYLA has taken a mind-blowing opening in East Punjab. It has collected almost double the house-full capacity on the first day at Friends, Jalandhar, Sangeet and Laxmi cinemas of Ludhiana, Shakuntala, Jammu, Rachna cinema in Faridabad and at Bhatinda.
* KOYLA has taken a historic start and has created city records on the first day at the following centres and cinemas of C.P. Berar: Raj, Raipur (50,008/-), Jeet, Bilaspur (41,668/-), Vandana, Jabalpur (48,235/-), Anjani, Khandwa (24,297/-), Rajkumar, Pusad (40,224/-, gross). It has also created theatre records at New Basant, Bhilai (36,036/-), Gajanan, Khamgaon (21,484/-) and Janta, Itarsi (25,115/-). It drew all shows full on the opening day at three cinemas of Nagpur, viz. Smruti, Panchsheel and Sangam as also at Vasant, Amravati.
* KOYLA has created theatre records on the opening day at all the five cinemas of Indore by collecting: 50,522/- at Sangeeta, 52,208/- at Neelkamal, 35,360/- at Devshri, 35,675/- at Premsukh, and 43,434/- at Smriti.
* KOYLA has created theatre records on the opening day by collecting: 55,000/- at Roxy, Gwalior; 30,000/- at Basant, Morar; 30,000/- at Metro, Ujjain; 30,000/- at Sundaram, Ujjain; 40,000/- at Bharat, Bhopal; 35,000/- at Jyoti, Bhopal; 28,000/- at Darshan, Ratlam. It has created a city record by collecting 38,000/- on 1st day at Jhankar, Rewa.
3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment
Playing Safe
If Bombay distributors V.I.P. Enterprises today prefer selling the distribution rights of their films to sub-distributors for Gujarat, Saurashtra, Karnataka and Thane district, it is thanks to Prem Granth. They had found Prem Granth so good that they decided to release it in the entire circuit themselves. Added to this were producer Randhir Kapoor’s instructions to V.I.P. to not sell any part of the circuit at anything but a really high price. They burnt their fingers and learnt their lesson. Had they sold the rights for the various sub-circuits, they would’ve covered their risk. Even if the film would have clicked in a big way, they would’ve got something by way of overflow. As Anil Choksey of V.I.P. says, “It is better to repent after selling than to repent without selling.” Another Bombay distributor, Vimal Agarwal, supports the system of covering one’s risk by selling the rights for sub-circuits, with the following comment: “A trader must always trade.” Vimal feels that to guard against errant sub-distributors, you can insist on foolproof and precautionary clauses in your agreements with them.
All The Trouble For Just One Week!
It would surprise many to know that Koyla will be screened at the main cinema of Indore — Sangeeta — for just one week, after which the cinema has booked Mrityudaata. Obviously, Rakesh Roshan is irritated with his C.I. distributor who had not informed him of the limited run. Instead, his distributor, Ashok Tolani, and the owner of Sangeeta cinema (Indore), Sanjay Tolani, prevailed upon Rakesh Roshan to anyhow facilitate the installation of DTS sound system at the cinema (Sangeeta). Without knowing that his Koyla would be discontinued from Sangeeta after just a week’s run, Rakesh requested Jaya cinema (Borivli, Bombay) to urgently transfer its DTS sound system (which was till then not installed) to Indore and instead instal another system after a couple of days. Jaya cinema obliged, but Rakesh Roshan now feels cheated. Understandably so!
This Is Not Done
Rakesh Roshan’s son, Hrithik, who had gone to see Koyla on the opening day at Minerva, Bombay, was shocked out of his wits with what he saw. There were several boys stationed outside the cinema, wearing Mrityudaata boards on either sides of their bodies. These guys were hurling abuses at Koyla and were passing derogatory remarks about the film. Whose brainchild this was, nobody knows. But whoever thought of this style of publicising Mrityudaata must surely be sick in the head!