LAHOO KE DO RANG
A.G. Films Pvt. Ltd.’s Lahoo Ke Do Rang (UA) is the story of two men — one, an upright and honest customs officer who is out to wipe out a family of villains, and the other, a happy-go-lucky chap who specialises in giving false evidences in court and making a living out of it and who is hired by the villains to kill the customs officer. The story looks like a mixture of two or three earlier films. The tracks of the two heroes move separately and when they do meet, it looks like a contrived attempt. Screenplay is one of convenience and there are clichéd scenes like the heroine losing her eyesight in an accident. The twists and turns in the drama are mostly predictable. Confrontation scenes between the customs officer (Naseeruddin Shah) and the villains are devoid of dramatics or exciting dialogues. In fact, the film’s dialogues are too ordinary for its cast and canvas and should have had much more punch.
On the better side are some light scenes which are quite enjoyable. Some songs are catchy and their picturisations on foreign locales are fairly eye-filling. The climax action is exciting.
Naseeruddin Shah does a fine job, as usual. Akshay Kumar is average in performance but excellent in action scenes and good in dances. Karisma Kapoor deserved a better deal as she has quite an insignificant role. She too impresses in dances. Farha is so so. Suresh Oberoi is effective. Mukesh Rishi screams and shouts too much. Mahesh Anand, Tej Sapru and Mushtaq Khan are alright. Dinesh Hingoo excels in the light scenes. Tiku Talsania is also good. Farida Jalal does a fair job. Vishwajeet Pradhan impresses in a positive role. Sheeba stands out in a sexy dance which, incidentally, has been effectively picturised. Avtar Gill, Shashikala, Navin Nischol, Alok Nath, Aparajita, Shiva, Mukesh Rawal, Amrit Patel and the others lend the desired support.
Mehul Kumar disappoints, both, as a writer and director. He takes too many cinematic liberties and seems not to have even made an attempt to give something fresh or exciting to the audience. Music (Anand Milind) is good. ‘Haseenon ko aate hain’, ‘Mujhe paisa mila’ and ‘Saas soye angna’ are well-tuned numbers. Camerawork (Russi Billimoria) is good. Editing leaves something to be desired. Action scenes provide thrill in the climax only.
On the whole, Lahoo Ke Do Rang lacks in merits and will find the going tough in most of the circuits. It may prove average in some circuits on the strength of business of small centres and due to the good (holiday) period ahead.
Released on 21-3-’97 at Dreamland and 24 other cinemas of Bombay thru Balaji Enterprises. Publicity: good. Opening: below expectations. …….Also released all over. Opening was below the mark at several places.
MAMTA KULKARNI INTERROGATED IN FODDER SCAM
Mamta Kulkarni was recently examined by the special investigation team constituted by CBI joint director, East, U.N. Biswas, to probe into the conspiracy aspect of the multi-crore animal husbandry scam.
It is reported that Mamta admitted to having performed two years back, at the Patna residence of a legislator who is currently in jail for his involvement in the said scam. She is said to have told the CBI that she was an artiste and could perform anywhere.
The huge amount allegedly paid to the actress by the scamster is being sought to be linked to his huge earnings from the fodder scam.
YOU ASKED IT
Will Mrityudaata take a good initial?
– Undoubtedly, it will take an excellent opening. Amitabh is returning to the screen after a long gap. The film’s music is also good. Especially, the Daler Mehndi song should have the crowds of North India dancing in glee.
A film like Tamanna does not do well in Bombay even after tax-exemption. What does it indicate?
– Two things. One, that admission rates even without tax are high. And secondly, not even tax exemption can help a film if it is basically not liked.
If English films are not allowed entry in India, will it give a boost to the box-office collections of Hindi films?
– It will definitely help to an extent. But, why think of making gains at the expense of another.
MIX MASALA
COLOURFUL COINCIDENCE
It is just a coincidence but a noteworthy one, nevertheless. Holi is a festival of colours and a film with as colourful a title as Lahoo Ke Do Rang has been released just four days before the Holi day. The title of next week’s release, too, has something to do with colours. It is Kaalia.
CODE WORD FOR DISASTERS
Naaz traders in Bombay have coined a new term. Taking off from the current sound system in vogue — DTS — they’ve coined the term ‘DTL’. Talk about films like Salma Pe Dil Aagaya, Jeeo Shaan Se and Chupp, and you have them termed as ‘DTL’, that is, Distributors’ Total Loss!
RED LIGHT AND SUNLIGHT
B. Subhash was spotted with prostitutes earlier this week. Along with him were Deepti Bhatnagar, Anant Jog and cameraman Ishwar Bidri. They were shooting in the red light area of Bombay for Dulhan Banoo Main Teri and were all praise for the co-operation from the sex workers who used to sometimes voluntarily hold the umbrellas over the heads of the cast and crew members to protect them from the scorching heat and the sunlight.
DO YOU KNOW?
* Cinemas of the Rathi group alone in C.P. Berar have given the distributors of RAJA HINDUSTANI a share of over 50 lakh. This whopping share has come from the following cinemas: Smruti, Jayshree and Rajvilas of Nagpur; Shyam, Yavatmal; Vasant, Akola; Prabhat, Amravati.
* RAJA HINDUSTANI is the tenth film in the last 12 years to complete 100 days at Jayshree, Nagpur. The earlier films to have achieved this distinction were: SHIVA KA INSAAF (in 1985), RAM TERI GANGA MAILI (1986-87), TEZAAB (1988), CHANDNI (1989), SANAM BEWAFA (1990), SAAJAN (1991), BETA (1992), KARAN ARJUN (1995) and AGNI SAKSHI (1996). Besides Jayshree, Nagpur, RAJA HINDUSTANI has also completed 100 days at the following other cinemas of the Rathi group: Prabhat, Amravati and Vasant, Akola.
HOLI TITLES
It’s Holi time, folks. And what better than Holi to award titles to the industry people. Of course, there’s no malice meant. The titles are to be taken in the spirit in which they’ve been written — for the fun of it! So here goes:
Dharmesh Darshan and Suneel Darshan: Lahoo Ke Do Rang.
Mukul Anand: Dus……. Uske baad bas!
Tabu & Sajid Nadiadwala: Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa.
Pooja Bhatt: Tax exemption ki tamanna thi, ab audience ki tamanna hai.
Plus Films: Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin.
Manish Malhotra (Dress designer): Aey Button Tere Liye.
Maharashtra Government: Sabse Bada Shaitaan.
Milind Gunaji: Duplicate/Yeh meri aankhen jhuki jhuki (naturally, after the poor performance in good roles).
Akshay Kumar & Raveena Tandon: Prem Deewane.
Zakir Hussain: Wah Saaz!
Sangeeta Bijlani: Jal Bin Machhli Azhar Bin Bijli.
Shilpa Shetty: Tan Badan.
R. Mohan: Mira (Nair) Ka Mohan.
Anuradha Paudwal: Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan.
Mamta Kulkarni: Zamane Ko Dikhana Hai.
Arvind Trivedi: Aaya Raavan Jhoom Ke.
Rahul Roy: Jaayen To Jaayen Kahan.
Priya Gill & Avtar Gill: Gill Hi Toh Hai.
You Name It, The Super-Computer Does It!
You’ve shot a chase sequence for your film in the night because the busy artistes could give their dates only at night, but you want that the sequence should look as if it were a chase scene in the day. Or you’ve taken a shot, with busy stars, against the backdrop of a wall which shows a picture hanging on the wall, but you realise thereafter that the photo-frame should have had a garland of fresh roses. No problem! You don’t have to reshoot the sequence or the shot all over again. Corrections of this kind and many more can now be made through computer graphics. Although graphics are costly, the expense is nothing compared to what you would have to spend if you had to shoot the scenes all over again.
One such computer graphics studio specialising in the field is Ramesh Agarwal’s Rajtaru Videosonic. Named after his twin sons, Rajeev and Tarun, it is these two sons themselves who’re doing the graphics at the studio which is, to put it modestly, in good demand.
Ramesh Agarwal has recently imported two super-computers, one of which is of infinite reality and the other is of reality engine 2, which give his studio an edge over all the others in the same business. The super-computers are of Silicon Graphics and the one with infinite reality is compatible for using the Inferno programme which makes it possible to match perfectly the special effects created by the Inferno programme on negative with the quality of the original negative. “Usually,” explains Ramesh Agarwal, “when computer graphics are used in the film, the viewer experiences a jerk in the picture. This is because of the difference in the resolutions of the output from the computer and that of the film negative. But the Inferno programme and the infinite reality make it possible to avoid the jerks because of the compatibility.”
Further, the super-computer can take care of unlimited layers, which, in practical terms, means, as many as 90 special effects can be mixed together.
Rajtaru Videosonic did the special effects in ABCL’s Tere Mere Sapne (showing the galaxy of stars with Amitabh Bachchan’s commentary). They’ve also done some amazing work for the to-be-released Mahaanta and Dhaal. In the last-named film, the Black Label whisky bottle in a song sequence has been replaced by a Bagpiper whisky bottle. “The producers got Bagpiper to sponsor the song and so, instead of reshooting the already picturised number, they did the next best thing — asked for the actual bottle to be replaced by the sponsor’s own brand.” Of course, to the viewer in the cinema, it would never dawn that the Bagpiper bottle was on the screen because of the super-computer!
“In the same way,” winks Rajesh, “we can make the famous Mona Lisa painting wink at you and say ‘Hi, sweetheart’.” With the flick of the computer mouse, he indeed has Mona Lisa winking at us……
Maybe, Viju Shah can set to tune another song which goes thus: Aankh maare O Mona Lisa aankh maare…..
3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment
Blame It On The Industry
Bombay distributor Ramesh Sippy blames the poor box-office collections (generally speaking) in Bombay city and suburbs these days, not so much on the enhanced entertainment tax but on the industry’s thoughtlessness in hiking admission rates so indiscriminately. According to him, when the Maharashtra government doubled the tax, the industry should not have increased admission rates because they were already too high. Instead, rentals of cinemas should have been brought down, he feels. Says Sippy, “All limits have been crossed with the current high rates of admission. If this continues for a long time, a doom is inevitable.” While condemning the exorbitant rates, Ramesh Sippy also says that the low box-office collections are, in a way, good. “Because now producers and distributors will at least realise that the high prices of films are unrealistic. Maybe, prices then will come down soon.”
Sound Revolution
There should be quite a sound revolution and explosion on the Hindi film screens in the coming days. For, film after film is being mixed in DTS sound. There are Ziddi, Koyla, Mrityudaata, Border, Daud and Gupt already due for release in April, May and June, with DTS sound.
In Telugu Too
After Karan Arjun, Rakesh Roshan also has plans to dub his new film, Koyla, in Telugu. With this aim in mind, he has asked the Andhra distributor of Koyla to relinquish his rights in the film. For, Rakesh Roshan will now not release the Hindi version anywhere in Andhra.
Punctual Hoon, Late Nahin
Shatrughan Sinha reporting on time for shooting! Did you say, “impossible”? Well, the impossible happened. And not just for one day but for four days consecutively. Mohanji Prasad, for whose film, Deewana Hoon Paagal Nahin, Shatru reported on time recently, would like to think that it is because of the keen interest the Bihari babu is taking in his film, thanks, among other things, to the hit ‘O bhabhi’ song in it.
Even God Doesn’t Know
To end this week’s column with a joke:
A producer, a share market broker and a businessman, all passing through bad times, decided to seek God’s intervention to help them. First, the businessman asked God, “When will my business flourish again?” Replied the Almighty, “After three months.” Then came the turn of the share broker. “When will the share bazaar look up?”, he queried. “It will take six months for the bazaar to pick up,” was God’s answer. The producer, a trifle nervous, asked, “Oh God, tell me, will my new film be a success?” The Almighty thought for a while, then said, “Even I can’t predict that. I can only tell you on the Friday on which your film will be released, after the first show gets over!”