UK-based Hindi film distributor Amarjit Singh Matharu passed away on 21st June in London. He was 86.
Matharu started his career under the name and style of Gurpreet Video International (GVI) in the 1960s with Dara Singh, Dev Anand and Dharmendra starrers. In those days, there were only shows held on weekends at 11 p.m. at London’s iconic Odeon Marble Arch, a 1,200-seater cinema, tickets for which were sold out in minutes. He released Manoj Kumar’s Purab Aur Pachhim which set the box-office on fire back then.
For three decades, he was easily the first choice for leading film exporters Maganbhai Savani, Chandrakant Mehta, Amar Asrani and producer Jhamu Sughand. With the VHS boom in the 1980s, Amarjit Singh Matharu set up a UK-wide distribution network, selling more than 50,000 VHS cassettes every year. Gangaa Jamunaa Saraswathi, with sales of more than 5,000 units, still remains a blockbuster on home video.
Over a career spanning six decades, he released more than 200 films in the UK, including blockbusters like Gadar Ek Prem Katha, Dil and Ghayal, to name a few. Interestingly, Dil and Ghayal were released on the same day, and Matharu was the UK distributor for both the films. Among the other films distributed by him in the UK are Beta, Kshatriya, Parampara, Deewana, Akayla and Insaniyat.
As corporates overtook film business, Amarjit changed tracks and moved to DVD distribution business, becoming the largest individual distributor for Eros International. Despite his advanced age, he remained active in business till his last days for the sheer passion of it, selling DVDs on Amazon/Ebay and serving cinefiles who would lap up old classics.
Amarjit Singh Matharu enjoyed immense goodwill as he was very helpful and caring by nature.
Overseas distributor Pranab Kapadia remembers Matharu as a noble soul. “Way back in year 2000, when I was still working for a company and wanted to buy a house (my first) in London, he gave me a hand loan of £1,500 (Rs. 1.5 lakh),” he recalled, adding, “And this, though I had met him only a few times till then. I could repay him the loan only after six months but he never made me feel that I owed him money.”
