PRODUCTION NEWS
‘Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya’ Dubbing Starts
Dubbing of G.S. Entertainment’s Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya commenced at Ketnav on Dec. 22 with Arbaaz Khan. The film also stars Dharmendra, Salman Khan, Kajol, Anjala Zaveri, Kiran Kumar, Asif Sheikh, Kunika, Ashok Saraf, Ashish Balram Nagpal, Tiku Talsania, Anand Balraaj, Dinesh Hingoo, Nirmal Pandey and Abu Malik. It is directed by Sohail Khan who also produces it jointly with Bunty Walia. Music: Jatin Lalit. Vashu Bhagnani presents it.
LATEST POSITION
Despite severe cold and even rains (in some parts of the country), CHACHI 420 has done very well after a dull start because it picked up in many places due to mouth publicity. ISHQ and DTPH are also doing well.
Chachi 420, as expected, picked up at many places as the week progressed. 1st week Bombay 34,63,408 (89.29%) from 10 cinemas (10 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 4,02,103 from 3 cinemas (1 in daily 1 show), Baroda 1,84,976, Jamnagar (21 shows) 93,492; Pune 5,23,666 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Kolhapur 2,38,454, Solapur almost 1,50,000 (99.80%), Satara 1,20,587 (84.63%); Belgaum 1,47,238; Delhi 30,82,848 (81.39%) from 7 cinemas; Kanpur 1,61,708, very good in Lucknow, Varanasi 1,03,234, Allahabad 85,500, Gorakhpur 56,000; Calcutta 12,72,190 from 11 cinemas; Nagpur 4,44,249 (98.31%) from 3 cinemas, Amravati (6 days) 1,85,796, Akola 1,38,949, Dhule 96,443, theatre record, Bilaspur 1,15,113; Indore 2,65,871, Bhopal 3,42,886 from 2 cinemas; opened in Jaipur on 25th, 1st day 64,459 from 2 cinemas; 1st week Hyderabad 11,15,274 from 5 cinemas (1 in noon).
Aflatoon is dull. 1st week Bombay 29,02,383 (68.36%) from 10 cinemas (11 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 6,75,942 from 6 cinemas (1 in daily 1 show), Vapi 2,78,656, Baroda 1,13,763, Bharuch (gross) 2,28,210, Rajkot 1,83,432 from 3 cinemas (1 in matinee), Jamnagar 93,072; Pune 6,81,466 from 5 cinemas (2 in matinee); Hubli 1,23,845; Delhi 29,61,599 (57.58%) from 11 cinemas (4 on F.H.); Kanpur 2,71,995 from 2 cinemas, Varanasi 1,17,929, Allahabad 1,07,000, Gorakhpur 1,05,000; Rohtak 25,742; Calcutta 6,17,987 from 7 cinemas; Nagpur 4,16,559 from 5 cinemas (2nd week 1st day 3,001 in 1 cinema), Jabalpur 1,18,587, Amravati 1,01,448, Akola 99,051 (2nd week 1st day 8,500); Bhopal 2,67,525 from 3 cinemas; opened in Jaipur on 25th (1st day 1,21,228 from 5 cinemas); 1st week Hyderabad 25,15,704 from 16 cinemas (1 in noon).
……
Ishq 4th week Bombay 29,22,117 from 8 cinemas (4 on F.H.); Sapna, Vasai 76,571, H.M. Deluxe, Bhayandar 1,29,827; Ahmedabad 7,09,630 from 4 cinemas, Vapi 2,12,556, total 14,17,363, 1st week Rajpipla 98,968, city record, 4th week Rajkot 1,60,000, Jamnagar (28 shows) 96,284; Pune 9,76,333 from 5 cinemas (1 in mat.), Kolhapur 1,23,671, Satara 1,14,787 from 2 cinemas (1 in mat.); Hubli 1,39,368, Belgaum 1,13,876, Dharwad 54,316, Bijapur 57,508; Delhi 14,92,391 from 7 cinemas (1 unrecd., 1 on F.H.); Kanpur 2,14,915 from 2 cinemas, Varanasi 1,29,240, Allahabad 1,17,000, Meerut 1,61,778, Gorakhpur 76,000; Nagpur 4,07,236 from 3 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 1,30,013 (3rd week 1,66,124), Amravati (6 days) 1,32,597, Akola 1,19,650, total 6,86,000, 3rd week Durg (6 days) 57,957, 2nd Jalgaon 1,32,144; 4th week Bhopal 2,48,807 from 2 cinemas; Jaipur 3,11,847 from 2 cinemas (1 cinema 6 days), Bikaner 26,000.
Dil To Pagal Hai 8th week Bombay 25,66,922 (75.98%) from 7 cinemas (7 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 3,26,904 from 3 cinemas, Baroda 1,67,692, Rajkot (mat.) 27,900, Jamnagar (noon) 22,409; Pune 7,35,017 from 3 cinemas (1 in mat.), Kolhapur 1,83,234, Satara (mat.) 37,073; 1st week Gadag 68,567, Bijapur 1,34,570 (full); 8th week Delhi 8,04,060 from 3 cinemas; Kanpur 85,733, Varanasi 77,167, Allahabad 35,000; Rohtak 7,198; Calcutta 7,29,887 from 4 cinemas; Nagpur 1,41,707 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 1,02,207 (7th week 1,30,108), total 12,06,668, Amravati 1,12,455, Akola 82,861 (7th week 79,788), total 10,63,600, Jalgaon 52,011, Gondia (gross) 3 weeks’ total 3,02,338; 8th week Bhopal 87,668; Jaipur 3,98,889; Hyderabad 6,23,053 from 3 cinemas (2 in noon).
A.G. VARTAK’S DAUGHTER WEDS
Dr. Samata, daughter of eminent exhibitor and distributor of Bombay, A.G. Vartak, got married to Dr. Shrikant on 25th December at Vasai, Bombay.
SILVER JUBILEE
Gupt has completed silver jubilee (25 weeks) runs at Vivek and Kalyan cinemas of Delhi.
YOU ASKED IT
When it is said that a good initial is half the battle won, how do you explain films like Chachi 420 which pick up by mouth publicity?
– Films like CHACHI 420, JUDAAI and BANDIT QUEEN are few and far between. The saying that a good initial is half the battle won is general.
With one more Akshay-starrer, Aflatoon, flopping, what is the future of Akshay Kumar and his starrers in the making?
– Akshay Kumar needs to pull up his socks before it is too late. A handful of films with top makers is what he needs to sign — and sign fast!
How would you describe 1997?
– The worst ever year for the film industry — a year of calamities and catastrophes, fears and failures.
DO YOU KNOW?
* One Ramarao Jadhav of Sangli has become a crazy fan of the Marathi film SARKARNAMA, running at the local Anand cinema. He sees it day after day in the 6 p.m. show and has now been permitted (by the local film representative) to see it free of cost. What’s more, he has also been presented an audio cassette of the film. When asked why he liked the film so much, he replied that he liked the usage of the word satkar in the film to describe the kidnapping and murder of persons by the politician. He also said, he liked the jugalbandi of the chief minister and the cultural affairs minister in the film.
* The cinemas of Ujjain have screened the following numbers of films in 1997: Nirmal Sagar 13, Metro 14, Prakash 24, Trimurti 25, Narendra 30, Kamal 33, Swarg 49, Bhatwal 50, Sunderam 51, Ashok 54, and Mohan 55.
* To take advantage of the tax-exemption policy of the Maharashtra government for Marathi films, Dada Kondke has been reviving his old Marathi hits one after the other. This week, he has revived SASARCHA DHOTAR in Pune, and RAM RAM GANGARAM in Bombay.
Not Worth Their Price
No star is worth his price today. Consequently, most of the films are also not worth their prices. It is surprising, therefore, how distributors continue to buy films at exorbitant prices. Or are they paying hefty prices at all now? Equally confusing is the fact that producers are running after stars who act pricey.
The first week’s figures of some star-cast films should serve to be eye-openers for all concerned — producers, distributors and the stars themselves. The last-named section of the industry badly needs to wake up to the bad realities of the film business today. For, if they realise that they are being unreasonable in their demands, they will appreciate the need to bring down their prices.
Shapath, starring Mithun Chakraborty and Jackie Shroff, collected 76.67% in Bombay and 69.42% in Delhi. Akshay Kumar fared equally badly with Mr. & Mrs. Khiladi collecting 75.38% in Bombay and 79.71% in Delhi. Akshay’s position deteriorated further with Aflatoon which closed its first week at 68.36% in Bombay and 57.58% in Delhi. Qahar may have boasted of such names as Sunny Deol and Sunil Shetty in its cast but did it manage to draw in the initial crowds? The first week figures for Bombay and Delhi were 70% and 75.27% respectively. Nana Patekar’s Ghulam-E-Musthafa may have reaped the benefit of Diwali in Bombay and barely managed a face-saving 87.55%, but in Delhi, the first week closed at 65.87% only. Even a two-hero (Anil Kapoor and Govinda) film like Deewana Mastana could collect just 92.06% in Bombay, and 89.45% in Delhi. When such is the position of star-studded films, cases of Vishwa Vidhaata (Jackie Shroff and Sharad Kapoor) and Bhai Bhai (Samrat and Manek Bedi) are absolutely pathetic. The former’s first week was 38.94% in Bombay and 33.85% in Delhi, while the latter’s corresponding figures were 56.05% and 29.58% (despite tax-exemption)! Dhaal, starring Vinod Khanna and Sunil Shetty, closed at 50.90% in Bombay and 37.77% in Delhi.
If these terrible figures can’t put the artistes to shame, what will? If these pathetic collections cannot serve as an eye-opener for producers, what will? If this sorry state of affairs cannot awaken the distributors, whatever will? And the aforestated statistics may be relating to the films of just a few stars but the position of almost all the artistes is the same. Barring a couple of heroes, nobody’s film is able to draw in the initial audience. And even those stars, whose films command a bumper opening, have to depend on the support of a good banner, a brilliant director, hit music — in other words, it is the entire set-up which matters.
The star prices and film prices are unrealistic, unjustified and completely wrong. And wrong economics cannot last forever. It has to be set right. If not corrected by a concerted attempt, the correction process can spell disaster. A disaster that can be averted!
– Komal Nahta
3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment
Urmila Replaces Karisma
Karisma Kapoor had replaced Urmila Matondkar in Dil To Pagal Hai. It’s now Urmila’s turn to replace Karisma. Miss Matondkar has stepped into the shoes of Miss Kapoor in Sunny Deol’s London. Reportedly, it is the rescheduling of the film’s shooting because of which Karisma couldn’t allot all the required fresh dates that prompted her to opt out of the project. In London, Urmila is paired with the two Deol brothers, Sunny and Bobby.
Five Million Dollars For Getting Pregnant!
Some of the court judgements in the US are truly interesting — as interesting as the court cases. One such recent case and judgement involves US actress Hunter Tylo. She has been awarded 5 million dollars after she was fired from Melrose Place for being pregnant and, therefore, not attractive enough for her role as a seductress. The Los Angeles superior court jury on 22nd December held that pregnancy was no bar to remain seductive. To make her point that she could be both, pregnant and sexy, at the same time, Tylo, who is now in the eighth month of pregnancy, wore tight mini skirts to court each day. What’s more, the jury even remarked that Tylo looked very attractive to the court.
Missed The Train
Pehle aap, pehle aap is a phrase that goes well with the nawabs of Lucknow who are said to have missed a train because of their etiquettes. But what happened in a Lucknow train the other day would change the phrase to Pehle main, sirf main! Unconfirmed reports say that filmmaker Muzaffar Ali, his wife and daughter were thrown out of a moving Lucknow Mail heading for Delhi on 21st December. Although Ali has not lodged any complaint, eye-witnesses have said that it was indeed Muzaffar Ali and his family who were pushed out of the first class air-conditioned compartment by the henchmen of a politician. The GRP has also confirmed that the filmmaker was thrown out of the train at Lucknow station as soon as it began to move. It is learnt that the security personnel and attendants of the politician dumped a few bags and suitcases of Ali on the platform. It was then Muzaffar Ali and his family’s chance to be practically thrown out!