A SHOT IN THE ARM FOR FILM INDUSTRY

Four leading names of our industry have been voted to the Lok Sabha. Sunil Dutt was declared winner from Bombay North-West constituency. He won by a margin of about 80,000 votes over his nearest rival, Madhukar Sarpotdar of the Shiv Sena. In Agra, Raj Babbar made it to the Parliament by beating his nearest rival, Bhagwan Shankar Rawat of the Bharatiya Janata Party, by a margin of 1,12,982 votes. Vinod Khanna was re-elected from his Gurdaspur (Punjab) constituency. However, he managed to win by only a slender margin of 1,399 votes over Sukhbans Kaur Bhinder of the Congress. Producer D. Rama Naidu, whose first battle of the hustings the election was, too, proved victorious. He won on a Telugu Desam Party ticket.

The news really gladdens the hearts of the industry people, but what would make them proud is if these four well-thinking personalities would use their MP status effectively for the welfare of our industry. Hopefully, they will highlight the industry’s problems in Parliament and get some corrective measures taken to ameliorate the hardships being suffered by the industry folk.

OF ‘TAAL’ AND MAAL: OF ‘MANN’ AND DHAN

Producer-director Subhash Ghai cares for his distributors. He has decided to compensate those of his distributors of Taal, who will suffer losses. Ghai may not refund part of their MG royalties, but he will sell his next film to them at a discounted price. That is to say, the distributors who’ve lost in Taal will have to pay lesser maal for Ghai’s next film. Subhash Ghai, after having had talks with his all-India distributors, feels that he will have to compensate mainly his Bengal, Bihar, C.P. Berar and Rajasthan distributors.

Contrary to rumours, Ghai is thrilled with the performance of Taal. Says he, “The Overseas distribution rights of the film were sold at almost three times the price of a major circuit in India. Which means that the Overseas is equivalent to three major territories for Taal. Nobody can dispute the fact that the film is a plus fare in Overseas (three circuits), Bombay (1 circuit), South (half a circuit), and C.I. (20%). My Delhi-U.P. and East Punjab distributors are confident of earning in the film. So that leaves the Eastern circuit, C.P. Berar and Rajasthan distributors only.”

If Taal is bringing joy to Ghai, the demise of his brother-in-law (sister’s husband) last week in Delhi has saddened him no end.

*         *         *

While on producers compensating their distributors, the makers of Mann have also promised to look after the interest of their distributors who lost heavily in the film. Indra Kumar and Ashok Thakeria have conveyed to their distributors that their next film will be offered to all of them at a no-profit-no-loss price. Less dhan then, for Indra-Ashok next time!

YOU ASKED IT

What would you do first and foremost for the film industry if you had the powers of the prime minister of India?

– Abolish entertainment tax on films in every state. Because it is one of the most unjust taxes today.

Why have publicity budgets of films gone up in the last few years?

– The importance of publicity and marketing is finally being appreciated by producers. Besides, profit margins of film producers are higher today. And, channels of publicity have also increased.

Will the Lok Sabha election results have any effect on the film industry?

– This is like asking whether the runaway successes of HUM AAPKE HAIN KOUN..!, RAJA HINDUSTANI or DILWALE DULHANIA LE JAYENGE or the debacles of PREM AGGAN or DIL SE.. toppled the government at the Centre! Jokes apart, the industry hopes, the filmworld MPs do something to improve its lot.

MIX MASALA

OF LUCK AND BAD LUCK

Talk of bad luck and the name K.D. Shorey is bound to come up. From now on, that is. His imminent ouster as IMPPA president through a no-confidence motion under way raises a couple of interesting points. Shorey was elected president during the shraddh period — quite a stroke of luck, looking to the fact that the period is considered inauspicious by all Hindus. But with the move for Shorey’s ouster having begun four days back, he is now due to be removed from the apex office as soon as the auspicious period of Navratri begins on Sunday (10th October). Inauspicious period (shraddh) proves lucky, and the auspicious period (Navratri) proves unlucky — now, that’s something!

DO YOU KNOW?

* The producers of Marathi super-hit BINDHAST are giving ‘surprise gifts’ and gifts of tolas of gold to the lucky cinegoers viewing the film from October 8 to 14 at any of the 13 cinemas of Bombay city and suburbs, screening the film. The gifts of gold total 25 tolas. The winners will be decided by draw of lots from the counterfoils of tickets sold.

* Producer Madhu Purohit has ordered for three snakes, each of 40 feet length, for his recently-launched COBRA which he is making in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. These snakes have been ‘made’ in Taiwan. Made, because they are not real snakes. They are made of polyester fibre and rubber. The snakes will slither and slide on the screen with the aid of computers. 

* BINDHAST (TF) has created a city record for Marathi films by collecting 1,01,758/- in 1st week at Arati, Wardha.

CENSOR NEWS

Rajshri Productions P. Ltd.’s Hum Saath-Saath Hain was given C.C. No. CIL/1/52/99 (U) dt. 6-10-’99; length 4843.88 metres in 18 reels (no cut).

Adishakti Films & Visions P. Ltd.’s Vaastav was given C.C. No. CIL/3/54/99 (A) dt. 7-10-’99; length 4203.55 metres in 17 reels (cuts: 6.02 metres).

Varma Corporation Ltd.’s Mast, applied on 5th and seen on 7th, has been issued C.C. No. CIL/1/53/99 (U) dt. 8-10-’99; length 4283.52 metres in 16 reels (minor deletion in sound only).

20th Century Fox’s Star Wars Episode I – The Phantom Menace (dubbed), seen on 4th, has been issued C.C. No. CFL/2/28/99 (UA) dt. 7-10-’99; length 3640.87 metres in 13 reels (no cut).

20th Century Fox’s Titanic (dubbed) was seen on 5th.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Brilliant Bajpayee

The industry has got a brilliant actor in Manoj Bajpayee. The guy proved in Satya that he is a reservoir of talent. He proves it once again in the ready-for-release Shool. Kaun may not have done well at the box-office but Manoj’s performance in that film, too, won him accolades. But why is Manoj Bajpayee concentrating only on middle-of-the-road cinema? Or is it that commercial makers are not singing Bajpayee? Either way, it is cinema’s loss, for, the guy could do with some really substantive roles in mainstream cinema as he is capable of delivering the goods. Besides Manoj, one sees a spark in the director of Shool too. He is E. Nivas who used to assist Ram Gopal Varma. Coming back to Shool, the film is a hard-hitting drama on the scene in Bihar today. It is the story of an upright police officer (played by Manoj Baipayee) who is posted in a town of Bihar and who is caught in the rowdy politics of the area. He has sympathisers on his side but nobody dares to support him for obvious reasons. E. Nivas does a fine job as a director in his maiden attempt.

Breakfast Show

The pitiable condition of the cinemas in C.P. Berar can be described by the examples of two cinemas. One is that of a cinema in C.P., which had to pull down its shutters as it could not collect even the weekly compound entertainment tax. The management of that cinema, of course, claims that the cinema has been closed for repair work! The other example is that of Shyam Talkies of Raipur, which has availed of compound tax facility. To keep itself in business, the cinema is not only screening C-grade English films in morning shows but also offering free breakfast packets to its patrons in that (6.30 a.m.) show. Sasti film mahengi screening!?!

Unity In Diversity

They belong to different political parties. But they belong to one film industry. Among the film industry winners for the Lok Sabha, Sunil Dutt belongs to Congress, Vinod Khanna, to the BJP, Raj Babbar, to the Samajwadi Party, producer D. Rama Naidu, to the Telugu Desam, Kannada film actor Ambarish, to Congress, and Tamil film writer Murasoli Maran, to the DMK. The same with the losers: Telugu film producer and financier T. Subbarami Reddy (Congress), Gujarati actor-producer Mahesh Kanodia (BJP), producer-director Muzaffar Ali (Samajwadi Party), and Malayalam actor Murali (CPM). Just goes to prove the film industry’s unity in diversity.

‘Suraj’ Eclipses ‘Baadshah’

Question: Who of the two — Shah Rukh Khan and Mithun Chakraborty — is more popular? Answer: Mithun Chakraborty. Surprised? Don’t be! For, the answer is true, at least in Nepal. As things stand, the sun shone brightly over Mithun Chakraborty’s Suraj — so much so that the film earned shares of Rs. 90,000 from Birganj and Rs. 60,000 from Raxaul in Nepal. In stark contrast, the Shah Rukh Khan starrer, Baadshah, released after Suraj, was quickly dethroned from Nepal cinemas and managed to earn low shares of Rs. 50,000 and Rs. 25,000 in the two places respectively. ‘Low’ because of the film’s high price! Suraj, for that matter, seems to have eclipsed all recent releases. Reports have it that both, Haseena Maan Jaayegi and Anari No. 1, plunged into darkness after only 4-5 days’ run each in Nepal. Way to go, Mithun!

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Dear Sir,

Ref.: Comments of Mr. Bipin Savla, associate producer of RAJA HINDUSTANI, published in Film Information‘s issue dated 28-8-’99

The comments of Mr. Bipin Savla, which appeared in your abovementioned issue, have put me into a state of shock because I happen to be the distributor of Bihar viz. Proper North Bihar of Raja Hindustani — the film in question. Owing to the exorbitant demands of the producers over the past few years, the principal distributor for Bihar is forced to cover his risk by selling films in four part-territories — South Bihar which accounts for 50% of the cost; Proper North Bihar which accounts for 25%; Nepal, 17%; and Katihar, 8%.

The principal distributor of Raja Hindustani, M/s. N.P. Pictures, Calcutta (thru M/s. Kumar Films, Patna), had given us the film for Proper North Bihar for Rs. 10 lakh at the rate of 25% of the price for Bihar. At the time, they had quoted the price for Bihar as Rs. 40 lakh. Thereafter, within two months of the release of Raja Hindustani (i.e. in January ’97), one of its producers, Mr. Bunty Soorma, and Mr. Bipin Savla (who, apart from being the film’s associate producer, also happens to be the proprietor of M/s. N.P. Pictures, Calcutta) came to Patna, accompanied by a representative of Tips. During their visit, I conceded to their demand to convert the earlier agreement into outright basis, knowing fully well that the sum demanded from me for Proper North Bihar would not be covered even in repeat-runs, leave alone the first run of the film — which is what has actually happened. I agreed to their unjust demand solely because I was new at the time and hence wanted to avoid any litigation that may have arisen out of my refusal to do so. Be that as it may, the fact remains that I paid Mr. Bipin Savla Rs. 15 lakh outright for Proper North Bihar, which, I presume, is the highest bid ever received by any producer for the entire Bihar territory, let alone Proper North Bihar which constitutes only 25% of it. In this light, I would like to ask Mr. Bipin Savla how he could claim not receiving overflow for Raja Hindustani from Bihar when he had already received Rs. 15 lakh for Proper North Bihar. Even though I cannot comment on the remaining 75% of Bihar territory, I can safely state that Mr. Bipin Savla is completely wrong in claiming that he had not received any overflow from Bihar.

The price quoted by producers for the Bihar territory nowadays is in proportion to territories like Bombay and Delhi in spite of the fact that the average admission rates of cinema tickets in Bihar for balcony and dress circle classes are ridiculously low (Rs. 5 and Rs. 7 respectively) as compared to those in Bombay and Delhi. Given this, it is easy to judge whether the producers are justified in asking for Bihar a price in ratio of that for Bombay and Delhi. Thus, whatever prices the producers extract from Bihar distributors today, they do so considering them to be outright prices only. This is the reason, I presume, why no film is able to cover its cost in Bihar today.

– J.L. Jha
Nirmala Pictures,
Patna.