QAHAR
Shanker Movies’ Qahar (A) is an out-and-out action drama with a story fitted into the action fare. Two young men, whose mission is to protect the needy and poor, join hands to finish the evil men who torture and even kill the poor and rape girls. A young upright police inspector at first becomes an obstacle in their way as he thinks that they are taking the law into their hands. But he later realises that the two young men are not the enemies of law but rather of the evil elements who treat law as a toy to be played with. It then turns out that one of the two young men-with-a-mission and the police inspector are brothers. There is drama towards the end before some have to lay down their lives and the evil forces are eliminated.
The film makes no pretensions about being a story-value drama and as the reels unfold, it becomes clear that action is the catchword. There’s violence at the drop of a hat. The sentimental drama after an action-ridden first half comes as a welcome change although it doesn’t really move the audience to tears. The screenplay is one of convenience and quite a few liberties have been taken. Dialogues are fair.
Arman Kohli does a good job in the role of the protector of the poor and the needy. His physique looks formidable. Sunny Deol, in a special appearance, breathes fire as the other protector of the poor. Sunil Shetty, also in a special appearance, impresses with a restrained performance. All the three heroes are good in stunts. The three heroines — Rambha, Sonali Bendre and Deepti Bhatnagar — get limited scope. Rambha leaves a mark in dances. Sonali and Deepti are fair. Gulshan Grover is very good and his ‘tel lagaa ke’ dialogue will go down very well with the masses. Paresh Rawal is effective and so is Kiran Kumar. Raj Babbar is good. Aroona Irani acts with sincerity. Rohini Hattangady also performs well but she looks too fat in the Maharashtrian attire. Raza Murad leaves a mark. Isha Gupta, Gavin and the rest pass muster.
Direction is okay. Action and stunts will appeal to the masses. Anand Milind’s music is good. The ‘Kabutar’ and ‘Bichhoo’ songs are mass-appealing numbers. ‘Maine dil se ye poochha’ and ‘Rab ke saamne’ are also well tuned. Camerawork is alright. Production values are okay.
On the whole, reasonably-priced Qahar, which has opened very well at most of the places, will do well in ‘B’ and ‘C’ class centres mainly and will definitely keep its distributors satisfied. It should fetch overflow from Delhi-U.P., East Punjab, Bihar and C.P.C.I. Business may not be as encouraging in the South.
Released on 5-12-’97 at Dreamland and 24 other cinemas of Bombay thru Nobel Film Distributors. Publicity: good. Opening: quite good. …….Also released all over. Opening was fantastic in U.P., East Punjab, Bihar and C.P.C.I. Rajasthan. 1st day Ahmedabad about 70%.
JUGALKISHORE RATHI’S SON TO WED
Marriage of Harish, son of C.P. Berar distributor Jugalkishore Rathi, with Taruna will be solemnised on 8th December in Amravati. A reception to celebrate the wedding will be held on 9th at Shree Maheshwari Bhavan, Dhanraj Lane, Amravati.
NO MORE
Kaushik Thakar, an assistant sound recordist, died in a train accident at Wadi, near Solapur, on 1st December. He was returning to Bombay from a shooting in Hyderabad. He was 36 years old and the only son of his parents. He is survived by his parents, wife and two daughters. Chautha ceremony was held on 5th at his residence at Pawan Baug, Malad, Bombay.
RAMAN B. DESAI DEAD
Veteran producer-director Raman B. Desai expired on 2nd December in a hospital at Vile Parle, Bombay. He was 80.
He had produced Waman Avtar, Nagmani, Amarjyoti and Hari Darshan and had directed silver jubilee hit Nagpanchmi, Chakradhari, Chandi Puja and several other Hindi films.
He is survived by his wife, a son and two daughters.
Incidentally, late Raman Desai’s younger brother, Nattubhai Desai, is working as controller of production for Harish Shah Productions and other producers.
BHUSAWAL GENERAL MANAGER OF RAJSHRI DEAD
M.S. Kulkarni, general manager of Rajshri Pictures (P.) Ltd., Bhusawal, expired on 3rd December at Railway Hospital, Bhusawal. He had been working with Rajshri since 30 years. He was 71 and is survived by his wife, four sons and a daughter. His funeral was largely attended by the C.P. trade.
BENGALI FILM PRODUCER BIMAL DEY DEAD
Noted Bengali film producer Bimal Dey, who produced Charulata (directed by Satyajit Ray) and Mahanagar, died in Calcutta on 1st December after a prolonged illness. He was 79 and is survived by his wife and two daughters.
PREMNARAYAN CHOWKSEY NO MORE
Premnarayan Chowksey, proprietor of Chitra Talkies, Burhanpur, expired on 5th December at Burhanpur due to a heart attack.
SANTOSH SINGH JAIN’S GRANDSON WEDS
Marriage of Siddhartha, grandson of Santosh Singh Jain and son of Padam Sacheti, with Shalini was solemnised in Jaipur on 3rd December. A reception to celebrate the wedding was held on 5th in Bombay at the RWITC, Mahalaxmi.
VAKIL SINGH’S SON TO WED
Amrik Singh, son of leading East Punjab distributor Vakil Singh, will wed Harminder Kaur on 12th December in Jalandhar.
KAMAL MUKUT’S SON TO WED
Marriage of Hemant, son of Rajasthan distributor Kamal Mukut, with Ekta will be solemnised on 12th December in Jaipur at Hotel Raj Mahal Palace.
LARGE ATTENDANCE AT WEDDING OF RAIKER’S DAUGHTER
Nita, architect-daughter of leading Karnataka distributor and exhibitor Ramesh Raiker, got married to Indrajit, also an architect and son of leading architect of Karnataka, Sharad Kembavi, on 4th December in Hubli at Raiker guest house. The wedding reception was held the same day. It was largely attended by film trade people of Hubli as well as Bombay and also industrialists and other top personalities of Hubli.
SRIDEVI IN AURANGABAD AT WOMEN’S CONVENTION
Sridevi and novelist Shobha De were the chief guests at the opening ceremony of a two-day convention of the Association of Women Entrepreneurs/industrialists of Maharashtra, held on 1st December in Aurangabad at Rama International Hotel. In her address, Sridevi said that today, women were no less than men in any field. Anuradha Paudwal, Kavita Paudwal and Sudesh Bhosle were also present. They were in Aurangabad for the Anuradha Paudwal musical nite organised by exhibitor-distributor Jugal Kishor Tapadiya and Dilip Chitlange in celebration of 100 days of the eveninger ‘Saanjhwarta’.
DTS SOUND AT VIJAYAWADA’S ANNAPURNA THEATRE
Annapurna Theatre, Vijayawada, has installed DTS sound system with 6 tracks. The system, including stage, sub-woofer (electro voice), surround (JBL) speakers etc., has been shipped directly from the USA.
‘Qahar’: Out-Of-Court Settlement Of Nail-Biting Title Drama
The title of producer-director Rajkumar Kohli’s film, Qahar, was almost changed to Qahar Hi Qahar on the day of release (4th December). This followed a stay order obtained by producer Rajesh Kumar Aggarwal from the Delhi high court on 2nd December in suit no. 2494 of 1997, restraining Kohli from releasing his film with the title Qahar.
Rajesh Aggarwal’s censored but unreleased film is also titled Qaher. Despite this, Kohli was allotted the title Qahar by the IMPPA, for his film which he made and was to release it as such. But Rajesh Aggarwal moved the court, seeking a stay on the release of Kohli’s film under the said title. After hearing both the sides, the Delhi high court restrained Kolhi from releasing his film with the title Qahar or Qaher till the date of next hearing. Rajkumar Kohli was granted liberty by the court to release his film by adopting another title.
Kohli then changed the title to Qahar Hi Qahar in the prints which were in his possession, but the prints which had been delivered to the distributors of the various circuits had the title Qahar.
An out-of-court settlement took place on Thursday (4th) night and Rajkumar Kohli reportedly paid Aggarwal a few lakhs to be allowed to release his film as Qahar.
The case was withdrawn from the court on Friday, 5th December.
Rajkumar Kohli, commenting on the title drama, told Information, “The monetary loss apart, the mental torture I’ve had to go through in the last three-four days has been killing. Had I known that a film by the name of Qaher has been censored and not yet released, I would have never used the same title. IMPPA should have exercised more caution before allotting the title to me.”
YOU ASKED IT
Why, according to you, did Ishq not take a bumper opening?
– Why, according to you, should it have taken a bumper opening? It was a love story unaided by super-hit music which, in the case of a love story, is a must for bumper opening. All the same, the opening was good in many circuits.
Has Subhash Ghai finalised the cast of his next film?
– When he hasn’t finalised the script, how can he sign the artistes for it?
Is it more advisable to remake an old hit or rework on an old flop?
– Reworking on an old flop can prove beneficial sometimes if one is able to rid it of its weak points and defects.
DO YOU KNOW?
* So sure is Bihar distributor Dr. Sunil (Vijay-Laxmi Pictures, Patna) of QAHAR going into overflow that he sent an advance overflow cheque of Rs. 1 lakh to producer-director Rajkumar Kohli at the time of delivery itself. “This is a token overflow amount and I’m sure, I’ll send more overflow,” says Dr. Sunil.
* Some star secretaries have formed a pool and will be sharing their earnings.
* A main cinema like Dreamland in Bombay does not switch on the air-conditioning plant for the comfort of its patrons. Some people, who had gone to see BHAI this week at the cinema, complained, it was too hot! Arre bhai, yeh kya ho raha hai?
* Delhi-U.P. distributor G.D. Mehta must be holding the record for releasing the maximum Sunil Shetty starrers from his office (Bobby Art International). QAHAR is the seventh film of Sunil Shetty to be released from his office, the earlier six being BALWAAN, SURAKSHAA, GADDAR, TAKKAR, VISHWASGHAT and BHAI.
* Raiker Entertainment, Hubli, has started a scheme of booking of tickets at its cinemas on telephone. Under the scheme, cinegoers are offered membership on a deposit of Rs. 250 which entitles them to five tickets a day in advance and at no extra cost. Over 500 cinegoers enrolled themselves as members within a couple of days of starting the scheme.
* Ramanand Sagar’s SHRI KRISHNA is the serial which earned maximum income for Doordarshan in 1996-97. This information was furnished by the I & B minister in reply to a question in the Lok Sabha during question hour on 20th November. Sagar’s RAMAYAN was also the highest revenue grosser when it was on air.
3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment
Copyright Chor
A Bengali film, released some weeks ago, is doing good business in Bengal. Titled Sedin Chaitra Mash, this film is the remake of Rajshri’s Chitchor. But since the producer of the Bengal remake did not buy the remaking rights from Rajshri, the latter has gone to court under the Copyright Act. Reportedly, a court receiver has been appointed on the box-office takings of this remake of Chitchor.
From Secretary To Distributor To Producer
Sunil Gaud, secretary to Om Puri and Sanjay Kapoor, has decided to diversify. He already has a distribution office in West Bengal (he recently released Virasat and Aastha there). He will now venture into film production too. Sunil will produce a Bengali film and has acquired the remaking rights of Anari (starring Raj Kapoor and Nutan and directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee) from negative rights holder Narendra Hirawat.
Heroine-Hunting
Rumours were rife in the Bombay trade that Sooraj Barjatya had gone to see Bhai at a cinema in Bombay as he wanted to sign Sunil Shetty for his new film. Although one part of the rumour is true, the other is incorrect. Sooraj did go to see Bhai with dad Rajkumar Barjatya. But not to see Sunil Shetty’s work. Rather, they wanted to see the performances of the two heroines, Sonali Bendre and Pooja Batra. While the three heroes in the film (Hum Saath-Saath Hain) have already been finalised, the girls opposite them are yet to be decided. Who will be the lucky ones?
Double Ramzan?
Now that mid-term elections to the Lok Sabha have been declared, film release schedules are bound to be affected. The month of January will have minimum releases due to Ramzan. With elections scheduled to take place in February-end or early-March, there may not be any major releases around that time. To quote O.P. Bansal, “We might have a repeat Ramzan (period of no major releases) in February/March.”
Sound Research To Avoid Unsound Investment
K.C. Surana of Raj Mandir cinema, Jaipur, is in Bombay for the wedding reception of Santosh Singh Jain’s grandson, which was held yesterday (5th December). He made the most of his trip and saw Dil To Pagal Hai at Bombay’s Liberty cinema alongwith Rajasthan distributor-exhibitor O.P. Bansal. Surana wanted to check the sound quality of the Dolby DTS print as he is contemplating installing either Dolby SR or Dolby digital or DTS sound system at his cinema too. In the alternative, he might go in for a new sound system of Sony. Anyway, not the type to rush in for a new sound system “just because other cinemas are installing it”, Kushal Chand-ji wanted to see the difference between the sound and decide thereafter. In a chat with Information, he said, “If I am going to spend 40 to 50 lakh, I might as well know what I am spending on. Our sound system is already of such impeccable quality that installing Dolby DTS sound system may not add to our revenues at all. But still, looking to the prestige of the cinema and with a view to providing better facilities to our patrons, I am game for installing a new sound system but only after I am convinced of its worth.” Interestingly, Surana was frank enough to admit (something which not many would have the courage to do) that he did not find much difference in mono sound and Dolby sound of Liberty. Incidentally, since there was some problem in the DTS sound at Liberty, the management switched over to Dolby SR sound. It may surprise many to know that Yashraj Films had already changed three or four prints at Liberty because the quality wears off after a couple of weeks. There is reportedly a technical snag in the DTS prints made in India!
No Laughing Matter, This!
The tendency of some distributors to take out 20 and 30 prints of a film for a 25% territory is making many laugh at them. But this is no laughing matter. While it is alright for such distributors to say that they take such an excessive number of prints to take advantage of the initial craze, it is also a fact that these very distributors, after a couple of weeks, sell most of the prints in the no. 2 market. So whom is their over-enthusiasm affecting adversely? The producer and the distributors of the other circuits, obviously. It is strange that producers should permit such distributors to take so many prints. Even if they do grant permission, they should insist on taking physical stock of the prints after, say, a month or two. Producers’ associations also need to take up this matter because it has serious repercussions on the trade at large.