KAUN
Kshitij Production Combines’ Kaun (A) is a real-time suspense drama aimed at terrifying the audience. It is about a girl who is scared stiff because she is alone at home (a huge home) on a stormy, rainy evening. The television news announces that a psychopathic killer is at large, which terrifies the girl even more. Suddenly, her doorbell rings and a man, asking for somebody, begs of her to let him in till the weather clears. She refuses. He persists. And finally, she finds him in her house. His behaviour makes her imagine, he is the killer. Even while she is trembling with fear and he is shivering of cold, a second intruder comes into the house. The two guys accuse each other of being the dreaded psychopath. The petrified girl is confused and since the suspense is about who the killer is, the audience is supposed to get into a guessing game. The ending, which deals with the revelation and much more, solves the mystery. The first half hardly moves. In the second half, the wordy duel between the two guys is entertaining but even though the audience may enjoy the war of words, its thirst for fright remains unsatiated. Also, this very entertaining bit detracts the story from the horrifying drama, which is not desirable. Because, since the entire film is shot in one bungalow only, it becomes a tedious and monotonous exercise for the viewer.
The film has just three characters. The three players and sound (effects and background score) play important roles in the 1-hour-56-minute drama. Although director Ram Gopal Varma has tried to exploit the lurking fear in a viewer’s mind, writer Anurag Kashyap lets him down badly, with a script that gives too much time to the audience to think. In this kind of films, the ideal situation would be to provide edge-of-the-seat thrills and chills and that would be possible only in a fast-paced drama. But the movement in Kaun is slow at many places, which raises questions in the viewers’ minds — questions like why the girl does not run out of the house and lock the two intruders inside, why she lets the first one in, etc. If the writer and director would like the audience to believe that there are no neighbours or neighbourhood, the same should have been established. Of course, the film’s ending answers the above questions that come to mind, but then, new questions arise at that point — questions like why the girl did not let the guys inside the house willingly, etc. In fact, the last scene in the film shows the girl rejoicing the fact that someone is knocking at her door again — something she wasn’t excited about when the drama started in the same fashion.
Another major drawback of the film is that it seeks to terrify through sound rather than substance. That is to say, the sound effects are more scary than the drama. The absence of songs and the short length of the film may be justified as far as the subject goes but since the merits are lacking, these become negative factors for the traditional audience. Besides, a major part of the drama looks unbelievable and unrealistic.
Urmila Matondkar does well in some scenes but is average in others, may be because the conviction in the drama is absent. Manoj Bajpayee acts ably but his character gets boring at places. However, even his performance is not flawless. For instance, when he fears that there’s yet another intruder in Urmila’s house (towards the ending), he shouts out to her repeatedly, to be careful and sometimes does so in a sing-song way (Ma’am, ma’am, ma’…….am)! Sushant Kumar fails to impress. His expressions do not befit his character and his dubbing also is dull.
Ram Gopal Varma’s shot compositions and takings are beautiful but much more effort should have gone into the script to have made it a terrifying drama. Although the man deserves to be complimented for trying out something different from the usual commercial stuff, his lapse in selection of a plausible script needs to be criticised. Editing should have been much more crisp. Action scenes are reasonably well composed. Sound effects are absolutely astounding. Background music is also wonderful. Photography is good.
On the whole, Kaun does not have enough material to scare the viewer and, therefore, does not serve the purpose for which it was made. A film for very selected cinemas in a few major cities only, especially of Bombay, Maharashtra and Southwards, it will entail losses to most of its distributors.
Released on 25-2-’99 at Metro and 26-2-’99 at 9 other cinemas of Bombay thru V.I.P. Enterprises. Publicity: very good. Opening: fair. …….Also released all over. Opening was disastrous at many places.
LATEST POSITION
It was a normal week. ….Collections in several parts of the country are likely to be adversely affected due to pre-Holi days.
Kachche Dhaage has done very well in 1st week but the drop from 5th day onwards was too noticeable everywhere. It has collected excellent at ‘B’ class centres too. 1st week Bombay 54,54,720 (79.91%) from 14 cinemas (9 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 13,97,298 from 8 cinemas, Padra 2,00,154, Rajkot 1,71,160 from 2 cinemas, Jamnagar (matinee) 32,000 (1 in regular unrecd.), Patan 1,89,578, Bhuj 1,27,696; Pune 13,58,353 from 6 cinemas (1 in matinee), Kolhapur 2,17,389, Solapur 3,04,266 from 2 cinemas; Belgaum 1,12,799 (100%), Dharwad 1,43,791; Delhi 57,76,205 (77.97%) from 13 cinemas (1 unrecd., 1 on F.H.); Kanpur 6,35,950 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 4,33,517, Varanasi 2,44,054, Bhadohi 1,34,373 (88.18%), Alllahabad 1,97,552, Meerut 2,62,668, Bareilly 2,58,156 (91%), Dehradun 2,41,680 (83.85%), Hardwar 1,00,123, Muzaffarnagar 1,74,468; excellent in East Punjab, Ludhiana 3,80,996 (100%), Rohtak 58,664; Calcutta 24,75,625 from 18 cinemas; did very well in Bihar in 1st week; Nagpur 9,00,158 from 4 cinemas, Jabalpur 3,08,515, Akola 2,00,903, Raipur (6 days) 2,10,621, Bhilai (6 days) 42,663 (1 unrecd.), Durg (6 days) 1,18,952, Jalgaon (6 days) 1,73,443; Bhopal 1,78,755 (1 on F.H.); Jaipur 12,75,154 from 4 cinemas, Ajmer (29 shows) 1,71,636, Bikaner 2,56,566; Hyderabad (gross) 34,08,713 from 15 cinemas.
………..
Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain 5th week Bombay 20,69,439 (65.05%) from 8 cinemas (4 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 4,09,953 from 3 cinemas, Baroda 1,13,953, Rajkot 90,740 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Jamnagar 40,000; Pune 5,28,608 from 3 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 1,48,357, 1st week Barsi 57,202; 5th week Delhi 5,88,685 from 4 cinemas; Kanpur 1,48,165 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 2,27,856, Varanasi 85,521, Allahabad 56,483, Meerut 91,903, Bareilly 32,022 (10.56%), Dehradun 99,654 (4th 1,39,000), Hardwar 18,000; Calcutta 4,11,792 from 4 cinemas; Nagpur 2,52,951 from 3 cinemas, Jabalpur 64,055, total 5,18,928, Akola 61,122, total 5,43,568, Raipur 82,469, Bhilai 86,432, 3rd week Jalgaon 89,003, 5th Gondia (gross) 56,866, Chandrapur 66,524, total 5,88,480, Yavatmal 25,539, total 2,78,730; Jaipur 1,62,578, 4th Bikaner 51,580; 5th week Hyderabad (gross) 3,07,795.
AJAY DEVGAN WEDS KAJOL
Ajay Devgan got married to Kajol at a simple ceremony at the former’s house on 24th February. Only family members and close friends were present. The wedding was a low-key affair, presumably due to the recent demise of Ajay’s grandmother.
YOU ASKED IT
Why do producers have to go to court to restrain cable operators from screening their films when the law itself does not permit the operators to screen them?
– That’s the tragedy of the country we live in. And the worst part is that in spite of being restrained by court orders, cable operators do show films.
In your item on the big films due for release in 1999, the name of Venus’ Josh was missing. Will Josh not come this year?
– The list of releases was not exhaustive. JOSH will definitely be released in 1999.
Is Ram Gopal Varma’s Mast half-complete? I hear, it will be released next year. Is that so?
– MAST will be complete by June/July and the film will be released in August/September this year. Although it stars Urmila Matondkar with a newcomer (Aftab), the film is a big-budget extravaganza with many songs.
DO YOU KNOW?
* Karisma Kapoor, who has not had a single release since over a year, after DIL TO PAGAL HAI, may well be seen on screen for the first time in 1999 in N.N. Sippy’s SILSILA HAI PYAR KA. As if to remind the world that her last film was DIL TO PAGAL HAI, the new film has a song with the title of Yash Chopra’s film in it. That and the film’s title song are good, catchy numbers. There’s one more ‘Padosan’ song which is also good.
* Amitabh Bachchan was accorded the status of presidential guest by the Sri Lankan government during his first ever visit to the country from February 1 to 14 for the shooting of Padmalaya’s SOORYAVANSHAM.
* Vinod Khanna will be seen in a TV serial for the first time on 1st March on DD1 in SHOORVEER MAHARANA PRATAP. He plays the title role in it and his heroine is Poonam Dhillon.
Dream Merchant
Budget Blues
With the Union Budget to be announced, there’s a lot of speculation in the trade about what the Budget proposals have in store for the film industry. With so much talk about the Budget, I dreamt about the industry people’s expectations from the Union Budget to be presented in Parliament today, 27th February. I dreamt about what the following people had to say about their hopes/expectations from the Budget.
Govinda was praying that the Budget allowed producers to claim 10% of the actual expenditure incurred on a film, as Artistes’ Late-Coming Expenditure. For that, the only proof required to be submitted would be a contract with the Hero No. 1. No proof of actual cash outgoings would be insisted upon by the Income-Tax Department.
Anil Kapoor said, he had inside information that producers who signed stars who do not command an initial, would be given a rebate of 20% of their profits. The government was doing this, according to Anil, “at the behest of the anti-Khan lobby” because only films starring the three Khans — Shah Rukh, Aamir and Salman — were opening to bumper houses.
Mithun Chakraborty said that he had used top connections to ensure that the new Budget would make it mandatory for all producers to shoot at least one schedule in Ooty. If a producer failed to shoot at the hill-station, he would not be entitled to the benefits of the two new sections viz. section 80-OO and section 80-TY to be introduced in the Income-Tax Act. Mithun, however, refused to divulge the details of the new sections.
Sunil Shetty was hoping that the new Budget proposals would give at least some relief or rebate to producers who made films on sports, whether cricket, football, kho-kho or hu tu tu. This, he said, would encourage producers to risk their monies on sports films despite the debacle of sports films, which, he felt, would go a long way in including the sportsman spirit in today’s youth — and producers alike!
Juhi Chawla, who has given up non-vegetarian food and has turned vegetarian, hoped, the government would do something about non-vegetarian jokes in films. She felt, a penalty calculated at 2% of the net profit of the producer for every 100 prints of the film taken out would be a good deterrent.
Mahesh Bhatt said, biographical films needed to be given a push and so also remakes of Hollywood films, the latter because they would expose Indians to the culture of the West. He also said that he had been assured by the Union finance minister that producers of biographical films would not be required to pay income-tax on profits from those films provided they were a true account of the lives of the people whose biographies they dealt with. Producers of remakes of foreign films would be granted a special deduction calculated at 5 times the cost of VCR, LD player, video cassettes, LDs etc. with no upper limit. This would be allowed under a new section 80-HFC to be introduced after section 80-HHC of the Income-Tax Act, which deals with exports of films. According to an inside source, the ‘HFC’ in 80-HFC stands for ‘Hollywood Films ki Chori’!
Chandrachur Singh, Arshad Warsi, Mukul Dev and Sharad Kapoor were hoping that the Budget would give special concession to makers of films starring newcomers. The definition of a “newcomer” would include every artiste who has no successful solo starrer to his credit. Thus, every artiste would continue to be a newcomer (for the purpose of the special concession to his producer) till the time at least one solo starrer of his proved a success.
Gulshan Rai, Subhash Ghai, Gordhan Tanwani and Shekhar Kapur were very hopeful that a new chapter in the Income-tax Act would be added in this year’s Budget. It would deal with producers’ expenditure under the head of extortion money. They said, they had reliable information that payments made to extortionists would be allowed as revenue expenditure if made at least 3 months before the end of the financial year for which it would be so allowed. If, however, the money was paid less than 3 months before the year-end, only 50% would be allowed as expenditure and the balance would have to be capitalised and could be written off in the books of account over a period of 3 years. To avail of the benefits under the new chapter, producers would have to prove that they, in fact, received threatening calls from extortionists and they did try to avoid the expenditure. A proviso in the chapter would make it mandatory for all producers to make payments to extortionists by account payee cheques or demand drafts only. Confirmation letters from the extortionists would be required to be submitted by producers alongwith their returns of income.
Actors like Akshay Kumar and Akshaye Khanna were very sure that as per their request, the Budget would provide for suitable amendments in the I-T Act so that actors whose three films flop in a row in one year would not be required to pay any income-tax for that year. Like every dark could has a silver lining, every third consecutive flop would have a tax-free lining.
Overseas distributor Kishore Lulla had dashed a telegram to Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The telegram requested for free trade between India and Pakistan and a tax holiday of 10 years for profits earned from export of Indian films to the neighbouring country. Of course, the prints of the films would have to be transported to Pakistan by bus! Yes, by the historic bus to Lahore.
– Komal Nahta
INFORMATION MEETS
“For me, it was never the question of choosing art over commerce or vice
versa. I wanted to make something
that was entertaining and that people
would want to see.”
– JOHN MATHEW MATTHAN
RAJ VAIDYA
John Mathew Matthan is reluctant to talk about Sarfarosh, his maiden venture as producer-director. At least this much is clear within the first few minutes of the conversation. ‘I’d rather you see it and then, tell me what you think of it’, says he and you realise that his reluctance to talk about the film does not stem from a fear of shooting his mouth. It actually signifies the supreme confidence that he has in his film. And why not? The trade buzz on this Aamir Khan starrer is encouraging, to say the least.
Having been an ad filmmaker for more than a decade and a half, Matthan returns to his first love, feature films, with Sarfarosh. In his first-ever interview with the press, he comes across as a confident, intelligent and a completely unassuming person. He also has a great sense of humour. Like when asked what genre did Sarfarosh belong to, he says, ‘Even I don’t know. In fact, I am waiting for the film to release so that I can go to a video library and see whether they slot it as action, drama, or other. Then I’ll know!’
You seem to be one of the very few people who have made a successful transition from ad films to feature films. Why don’t you start by telling us how it all began?
Actually, I started my career in feature films and then switched over to advertising. You see, I had just finished a post-graduate diploma in Mass Communications from Xavier’s, Bombay when I got my break as chief assistant director to Govind Nihalani in his directorial debut, Aakrosh (1980). Later, I was the first assistant director in the Oscar-winning Gandhi (1983). But, by then, I also realised that it was very difficult to survive as just an assistant in the film industry as one only gets paid a pittance. So, I turned to making ad films, primarily in search of security. During the next 12 or 13 years, I went on to make nearly 400-500 ad films on almost every conceivable product under the sun. I have made ad films for the entire range of, say, detergents, be it Wheel, Surf, Rin, OK or Nirma. I also made the first ever Garden sarees ad, apart from those for Tips & Toes, Lifebuoy soap and countless others. In the process, I gained a tremendous amount of confidence in my abilities and earned some money too.
You obviously had it really good as an established ad filmmaker. What prompted you to venture back into the uncertain world of feature films?
After having made such a huge number of ad films, I had reached a point where I was fed up of them. Moreover, I had found the financial security that had prompted me into this field long ago. I also had the confidence that I could now direct a feature film. So, I guess, it was a logical switch back to full-length features. This decided, I began to think about the kind of film I wanted to make. I knew that at that time, it was easier to get a nod from NFDC or to raise funds for a small film, and go ahead and make it. But then, I also realised that those kind of films do not get the right exposure. So, I decided against that route. I wanted my film to get exposure. I mean, what is the purpose of making a film if it is not going to be seen by the audience? Ultimately, films are made for the audience to see, and the only way to ensure this is to make a mainstream film. For me, it was never the question of choosing art over commerce or vice versa. I wanted to make something that was entertaining and that people would want to see. With this in mind, I started working on the script for Sarfarosh. I chose a subject which is modern and, in many ways, unique to today’s times. The film is about the perilous nature of lives ordinary citizens lead in the grim shadow of the constantly increasing terrorism.
Sounds interesting, but how did you manage to rope in Aamir Khan in the project, considering your newcomer status as producer-director?
Even while I was scripting Sarfarosh, it was clear to me that Aamir could be one of the better options to play the lead. So, once I had completed scripting, I approached Aamir with a request to hear out the script. He gave me an hour at Sunny Super Sounds where he was to participate in the background score for one of his films. I explained to him that my script was three hours long and hence it wasn’t possible for me to narrate it in an hour. He respected that and, within a week, gave me the time I required. I went and just read out the script — not narrated it in a dramatic manner — and was pleasantly surprised at the end of it when Aamir said, he would do the film. I guess, what worked in my favour initially was the fact that I had a bound script on my hands. Later, Aamir did take a little time in checking me out, but that was simply because this was my maiden venture as a producer, and Aamir was naturally concerned about my being able to back it up financially. Here, Manmohan Shetty of Adlabs gave me a lot of support. I have had a nearly 20-year-long association with him and it was he who assured Aamir that the film wouldn’t run into any sort of trouble. Not only this, he also organised finance for the film. Soon, Aamir gave his nod and the project took off.
How much time did you spend in the scripting?
The scripting of Sarfarosh took nearly six to eight months. That was because I did a lot of research before actually sitting down and writing the film. Everybody asked me why I was wasting my time and whether I was going to make a documentary on terrorism. But, I am of the opinion that it is not possible to understand terrorism sitting in Bombay. You have to go out there were it is rampant and meet people who are affected by it. You must also meet people who have been a part of it and those who are against it. Only then can you begin to write about it in a knowledgeable manner. Meeting all these people helped me a great deal while scripting Sarfarosh. I was able to extract so many real-life stories from them and, in some instances, even dialogues. I later incorporated quite a lot of these in my original plot.
What kind of film is SARFAROSH?
It is really difficult to categorise Sarfarosh in a particular genre. I’d rather you see the film and tell me where it fits in. It has all the elements of a commercial mainstream film. The film opens in New Delhi where Aamir resides with his family. He is still studying in college and, one fine day, bumps into Sonali Bendre and they both experience the sparks of love. However, their romance ends prematurely when Aamir’s family is affected by terrorism and has to abruptly shift to Bombay. Once in Bombay, Aamir, a graduate now, lands himself a respectable job and begins a new chapter in life, until a chance meeting with Sonali at a ghazal concert revives his love. Matters soon come to a head when the dark shadow of terrorism catches up with his family.
Sarfarosh is an intense film and required an equally intense background score. I am fortunate that my team of musicians (refuses to name them for some reason) have given me a score that is better than what I had expected. Jatin Lalit have, likewise, given me a wonderful musical score, in six songs that befit the theme.
An increasing breed of new directors and screenwriters hate the compulsion of including songs in each and every film, regardless of its theme. What are your views?
All I can say is that one has to accept reality. If you choose to make a mainstream commercial film, then you must also accept that there will be six or seven songs in it. As a director, it becomes your job to figure out how to do it. I agree that Sarfarosh is not really a subject where there is great scope for songs. But, I couldn’t let that interfere and trouble me when I started off because my attitude towards songs would be negative then. Moreover, making a songless film with Aamir Khan is like making a statement and I did not want that. So, I accepted this compulsion right from the start and also figured out a way to do it.
Out of the six songs in the film, the title song, Sarfaroshi ki shama dil mein jalaa lo yaaron / Zindagi maut na ban jaaye sambhaalo yaaron, sets the framework of the film. Then, there is a ghazal being sung at the concert where Aamir and Sonali meet in Bombay. A flashback incorporated in the ghazal tells the audience about their love affair in New Delhi. Thus, the ghazal becomes a part of the narrative. The remaining songs, I have used as relief points in the film.
Coming to Aamir, what has been his contribution to SARFAROSH, apart from acting?
Aamir has been an excellent support to me throughout the film. He stood by me through everything and continues to do so even now. He is not the kind of an actor who just comes on the sets, does his job and leaves. He contributes a lot to the film in a very positive way. He has also been very respectful to me. See, when I began the film, I had not worked with anyone in my unit and hence my crew and the artistes probably did not know how to treat me. So, the respect they gave me was because of the respect Aamir gave me. There were also times when I wanted a particular thing in a particular way. It is to Aamir’s credit that he trusted my judgement and saw to it that I got what I wanted. He had the confidence to trust me and I owe him that.
Being a first-time producer, how was your experience with the trade?
Well, I have closed all territories except Andhra… so, I guess, the experience has been good. I must confess that I did not get the price I had in mind, but still managed a very good one in spite of having absolutely no track record in feature films.
Finally, what was the controversy surrounding SARFAROSH which led to the change of distributor for Bombay territory?
I would not like to comment on that. All I can say is that wait for ten days and it will all clear up. The matter is currently being sorted out by IMPDA.