RAHUL

Prakash Jha Productions’ Rahul (UA) is the story of an adorable child who is torn between his parents who have been divorced due to ego problems. Living with his father, he yearns for his mother’s love too, when he learns that his father had lied to him about his mother not loving him (the child) and had, therefore, left him. He secretly meets his mother but when this comes to the knowledge of his strict father, the child is forced by the father to choose between the two parents. To please and cling on to his father, the vulnerable child even declares that he hates his mother.

Having declared his ‘hatred’ for the mother, the child finds the trauma too much to handle; he goes into a severe depression and has to be hospitalised. Chances of his survival are declared to be dim.  His daggers-drawn parents fight in the hospital even as the child battles death. Finally, the doctors give up. This shocks his parents emotionally and they cry together, but soon a miracle happens. Sub-consciously realising that his parents have come together in grief, the child starts breathing normally again. Of course, the parents then unite and live happily ever after with their lovable child.

The first half is terribly slow and also boring in parts. While the emotions of the child make an impact on the viewer, those of the egoistic parents do not. That’s a major drawback of the film because the parents, after all, are the hero and heroine. Post-interval, the pace picks up, but again, the emotions draw tears only at a couple of places. The entire climax in the hospital is flawed, to say the least! No concerned parents, however egoistic they may be, would fight in a hospital when their child is hanging between life and death. The audience feels cheated by this ridiculous behaviour of the parents and this, in a way, does not let the audience sympathy for the dying child manifest itself in the form of tears. If the parents are so shameless, why should we cry? — this seems to be the unintended question the viewer asks himself. A better — and the only right — climax would have been to show the parents in the hospital as mature adults, realising their follies which led to the extreme condition of the child, and, during this emotional trauma, coming close to each other without fighting. This would also automatically turn out to be their repentance for letting egos rule their lives.

In their quest for realism, perhaps, director Prakash Jha and screenplay writers Anuradha Tiwari and Farhan have dished out a script which has glaringly faulty emotions. Dialogues (Farhan) are good, though.

Master Yash Pathak, in the title role, makes a commendable debut and gives a heart-warming performance that cannot be faulted one bit. Credit as much to the child as to director Prakash Jha for extracting such brilliant work from a kid. Yash looks very cute and adorable and his style of talking conveys the innocent yet intelligent character he plays. In one word, his is nothing short of an award-winning role and performance. Jatin Grewal, as Yash’s dad, looks good and acts reasonably well in his debut film. The guy has a promising future ahead of him and he will grow on the viewers as he sheds his initial stiffness. Neha is so-so as the mother. Rajeshwari Sachdev does a fine job. Mahesh Thakur is restrained. Gulshan Grover delivers a praiseworthy performance. Parikshat Sahni is natural. Baby Tanvi Hegde is superb as Yash’s friend, philosopher and guide. Bubbly and expressive, she endears herself to the audience. Manish Wadhwa excels. Neena Kulkarni lends good support. Anil Nagrath does well. Isha Koppikar’s dance item is eye-filling.

Prakash Jha handles the subject with sensitivity except that the emotions go awry in the end. Secondly, the script lets him down too. Music (Anu Malik) is melodious. All the songs are likeable in the film but a hit is missing. Arvind K.’s camerawork captures the locations with a lot of care.

On the whole, Rahul has taken a poor start almost everywhere (except Bombay city and suburbs) and, save in a handful of good cinemas in a few cities, it will fail to entice, excite or emotionally move the viewers. Loser. Trimming of the climax can help marginally.

Released on 6-4-2001 at New Excelsior and 11 other cinemas of Bombay thru Metro Films. Publicity: good. Opening: quite good. …….Also released all over. Opening was terribly poor in every circuit.

CENSOR

Navketan International Films’ Censor (UA) questions the validity of film censorship in today’s times. Filmmaker Vikramjeet runs into trouble with the Censor Board when he submits his film for censorship. The Board suggests a large number of cuts for a ‘U’ certificate, which is not agreeable to Vikramjeet. He also knows that he is being done in by a couple of prejudiced members on the Board’s examining committee. He pleads his case to the regional officer of the CBFC, but to no avail. Next, he shows the film to the minister of information & broadcasting in the hope that, at least, he will see the film for what it really is. To his dismay, he finds that the ministry suggests even more cuts. Driven to his wits’ end, he knocks the doors of law.

While the case progresses, he holds a number of screenings of his film for a cross-section of people so that he can veer public opinion towards his film. At one such screening, the film is viewed by a member of a committee for recommendation of films for a prestigious American awards function. Impressed by the film, she asks Vikramjeet to enter his film for the awards. The filmmaker manages to smuggle a print out of the country and enters it for the awards. When the Indian authorities learn of his act, they file a case against him for illegally sending his film out of the country. The film goes on to bag the top awards — best director for him and best foreign-language film. Meanwhile, the court case has reached an advanced stage. The judge rules in Vikramjeet’s favour and suggests that the authorities initiate a debate on censorship on a national level. A jubilant Vikramjeet announces that he would donate the entire income from the film to charity.

Although the issue of censorship concerns everyone, that as a film’s subject will appeal only to a small section of intellectual cinegoers. Even then, the story does not really debate the issue in a logical manner. The need to censor a film and a film’s winning international awards are completely unrelated issues. The argument that just because a film has won laurels for the country, it is above censorship is ridiculous, to say the least. There are also contradictions inherent in the story. On the one hand, the protagonist (filmmaker) takes recourse to law when snubbed by the CBFC, and on the other, he smuggles out a film quite in contravention of the law of the land! For these very reasons, his moment of glory, when he bags the award, fails to come across as an exhilarating one. Even the long-drawn-out court sequence does not register much of an impact.

Dev Anand gathers an ensemble cast to adorn the film. While his own performance as Vikramjeet is passable, Hema Malini plays his silent suffering wife with conviction. Rekha, as the CBFC’s regional officer, is good. Amrish Puri, Jackie Shroff, Mamta Kulkarni, Govinda, Raj Babbar and Shammi Kapoor add their bits in small roles. Debutante Heenee Kaushik is fair. Newfind Raja doesn’t get much to do but is alright. Both get lost among the huge star cast of the film. Mohini Sharma and Vinay Anand lend average support. Rest of the cast fills the overcrowded bill.

Dev Anand doesn’t really shake the earth with his direction, but then, he is handicapped by his own weak subject. Music falls far short of both, Dev Anand as well as Jatin Lalit’s past standards. Technical and production values are fair.

On the whole, Censor is a non-starter as it deals with a subject that the general cinegoer doesn’t care at all about. Dull.

Released on 6-4-2001 at Minerva and 11 other cinemas of Bombay thru Dilsa Distributors. Publicity: fair. Opening: poor. …….Also released all over except in C.I. and Rajasthan.

LATEST POSITION

The fate of ONE 2 KA 4 and the dull opening of RAHUL have yet again scared the guts out of the trade.

One 2 Ka 4 is a disaster. 1st week Bombay 44,26,714 (58.61%) from 14 cinemas (10 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 3,05,644 from 4 cinemas (1 unrecd.), Jamnagar 96,069; Pune 11,79,383 from 4 cinemas, Solapur 2,79,542 from 3 cinemas (1 in matinee), Sangli 1,26,275; Delhi (6 days) 43,12,776 (48.92%) from 13 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Kanpur 3,32,394 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 4,99,254 from 2 cinemas, Allahabad 1,26,653; Calcutta 9,10,949 from 2 cinemas; Nagpur 4,66,500 from 4 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 79,479, Amravati 1,39,225, Raipur (6 days) 82,957, Jalgaon (5 days) 1,40,583; Jaipur 7,66,261 (59.12%) from 2 cinemas, Ajmer (gross, 29 shows) 1,52,265, Bikaner 1,46,607; Hyderabad (gross) 23,09,198 from 12 cinemas (2 on F.H.). Total 1,68,78,728 from 71 cinemas.

………..

Chhupa Rustom 2nd week Bombay 8,64,966 (28.04%) from 6 cinemas (4 on F.H.), total for 2 weeks 32,07,241; Ahmedabad 38,830; Pune 1,27,281 from 3 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 43,040; Delhi (6 days) 3,57,811 from 4 cinemas (3 on F.H.); Lucknow 1,20,038 (1st 2,88,645), Varanasi 1,08,496; Nagpur 25,796, Jabalpur (6 days) 16,748, Amravati 43,911, Raipur (6 days) 17,157; Jaipur 88,902; Hyderabad (gross) 1,59,567. Total 20,12,543 from 23 cinemas.

Chori Chori Chupke Chupke 4th week Bombay 20,14,249 from 7 cinemas (3 unrecd., 6 on F.H.), total for 4 weeks 1,93,90,427; Ahmedabad 7,46,267 from 4 cinemas (1 unrecd.), Rajkot 1,43,140 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Jamnagar 49,802; Pune 4,16,645 from 3 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 1,39,834 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Delhi (6 days) 12,04,812 from 8 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Kanpur  1,38,651 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 2,05,535, Varanasi 1,09,538, Allahabad 96,000; Calcutta 2,17,789 from 2 cinemas; Nagpur 1,49,441 from 2 cinemas, Amravati 1,25,956, Raipur (6 days) 1,10,435, Jalgaon (5 days)  70,600, Wardha 31,584, Chandrapur 50,973, total 4,69,629; Indore 1,15,384 from 2 cinemas; Jaipur 2,25,707 (33.91%), Ajmer 60,063; Hyderabad (gross) 3,36,597; 2nd week Mangalore 1,17,358 (1st 1,86,817). Total 68,76,360 from 47 cinemas.

NATIONAL AWARD FOR BRAJ BHUSHAN

Director Braj Bhushan has won the National Award for his short film, Tribal Women Artists, in the best art film category, announced at the 48th National Film Awards on 27th March. His next directorial venture, Aisa Kyon?, a feature film, is ready for release.

PIRATED VIDEO CASSETTES SEIZED

The Bharveli police in Balaghat recently seized pirated video cassettes of Officer. The raid was conducted after M.S. Rathore, manager of Shyam Talkies, Balaghat, and M.P. Mishra, representative of Film Information, lodged a formal complaint.

‘RAJU CHACHA’ 100 DAYS

Devgans Films’ Raju Chacha entered 100th day of its combined run today (7th April) at Minerva (matinee), Bombay. Starring Rishi Kapoor, Ajay Devgan, Kajol, Johny Lever, Govind Namdev, Pramod Moutho, Mayur and Sanjay Dutt (guest), the film is directed by Anil Devgan and has music by Jatin Lalit.

YOU ASKED IT

Is syndicate-buying of big films safe for the parties in the syndicate? Will it become a trend, now that prices of films have gone so high?

– Syndicate-buying definitely divides the huge risk between the parties in the syndicate. But then, there’s the risk of true accounts not being furnished by one or more partners to the rest. As regards becoming a trend, it doesn’t seem likely.

What prompted Subhash Ghai to sign David Dhawan to direct Mukta Arts’ next? When will this film be released?

– According to Ghai, he loved the story idea narrated to him by David Dhawan. As yet, the film’s cast and other credits are to be finalised. It will be released next year. 

What is the rate of entertainment tax in West Bengal?

– For Hindi films, it is 70%, while for Bengali and Nepali films, it is 20%.

PRODUCTION NEWS

‘Kyonki… Main Jhuth Nahin Bolta’ In Europe

The final 15-day shooting spell of Shri Siddhivinayak Films’ Kyonki… Main Jhuth Nahin Bolta will commence on May 1 in UK and Europe. Four songs will be picturised on Govinda, Sushmita Sen and Rambha. Anand Raaj Anand recorded the sixth and last song of the film at Sound City on April 5. Penned by Dev Kohli, it was rendered by Udit Narayan and Alka Yagnik. Being produced by Shobha Kapoor and Ekta Kapoor and directed by David Dhawan, the film co-stars Anupam Kher, Satish Kaushik, Kiran Kumar, Shahbaaz Khan, Mohnish Bahl, master Jibraan, Anant Mahadevan, Jaya Bhattacharya, Ashish Vidyarthi, Razzak Khan and Sharad Kapoor. Writers: Yunus Sejawal and Imtiaz Patel. Cinematographer: K.S. Prakash Rao. Action: Mahendra Verma. Art: R. Varman. Executive producer: Prakash Pange. Jeetendra presents the film.

‘Bas Itna Sa Khwaab Hai…’ Final Shooting Spell

The final 15-day shooting stint of Rose Movies Combine’s Bas Itna Sa Khwaab Hai… at Bombay locales commenced on April 1. The last three days’ shooting of this stint will be held in Delhi. The entire cast, including Jackie Shroff, Abhishek Bachchan, Sushmita Sen, Rani Mukerji, Gulshan Grover, Smita Jayakar, Sanjay Narvekar and Raman Lamba, is participating. The film is being written and directed by Goldie Behl for producer Madhu Ramesh Behl. It has music by Aadesh Shrivastava. Dialogues: Tigmanshu Dhulia. Cinematography: Sameer Arya. Art: Sabu Cyril. Action: Bhiku Verma. Choreography: Ahmed Khan. Executive producer: Shrishti Behl-Arya.

SIGNED

Subhash Ghai Signs David Dhawan

Subhash Ghai has signed David Dhawan to direct Mukta Arts’ next which will commence on August 16. It will be completed early next year.

Cast and other credits of the film, as yet untitled, are to be finalised. It is based on a story idea of David Dhawan himself.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Maine Title Tujhko Diya

The controversy over the title Maine Dil Tujhko Diya has finally been laid to rest. The title has gone to producers Bunty Walia and Sohail Khan after it was relinquished by Bengal distributor and producer Sanjay Roy in their favour. It may be recalled that even while Sanjay Roy had the title registered in his favour, Bunty-Sohail announced a film with the same title as the launch vehicle of Sohail Khan as the hero and Sameera as heroine. But the ‘dispute’ has been settled through the good offices of distributor and finance agent Bipin Savla. It was he who persuaded Roy to give up the title. All’s well, that ends well!

High-Flying Hero

This hero sure is a high-flying star. No, no, don’t get us wrong. No film of his has clicked in a major way in recent times. High-flying, because the actor these days insists on having a helicopter booked for himself if there’s no aeroplane service to the shooting location. Like, the hassled producer of an almost complete film had to hire a helicopter to transport the hero from Delhi to Kulu Manali for the film’s last shooting schedule. Although that meant being poorer by a few lakhs, the producer had no alternative. He feared, if he said ‘no’ to the hero’s demand, the latter might not report for shooting at all. So the actor flew from New Zealand to Delhi by plane and from Delhi to Kulu Manali by a ‘copter.

Anyway, once there, the hero was pretty professional after the ‘copter ride and completed his work in the fortnight-long schedule. Only a song and some patch-work scenes now remain to be shot.

And yes, his demand for a ‘copter to fly him back to Delhi was politely declined by the producer because he was “broke” by then. And that was no joke because although the actor drove down to Delhi in a Mercedes, the producer’s man was cooling his heels — literally and figuratively! — in Kulu ten days after the shooting stint was over, waiting for money to reach him from Bombay to clear off the hotel and other bills!

SHOOTING COVERAGE

AJNABEE: When Four’s Company

If producer Vijay Galani had harboured any doubts about the saleability of his new film, Ajnabee, he must be relieved now. Galani, whose past record hasn’t exactly been awe-inspiring — he has given two duds (the Salman Khan starrer, Suryavanshi, and the Govinda-Manisha Koirala starrer, Achanak) — is, at the moment, enjoying a positive distributor response for his Ajnabee. “I have already closed the film for Overseas,” informs the beaming producer, now reassured that his combination of director duo Abbas Mustan, Akshay Kumar and Bobby Deol has worked. He adds, “As far as domestic circuits are concerned, we closed most of them soon after we signed Kareena Kapoor.” Currently busy wrapping up the shooting of the film, Galani intends to release Ajnabee some time in June this year.

Kamal Amrohi Studios is the venue for the picturisation of the last song of Ajnabee. The song in question is being picturised on Akshay Kumar and Bipasha Basu under the supervision of choreographer Ganesh. The moment one lands on the set, one feels, one has boarded a cruise liner. For, the set designed by R. Varman, is a replica of one of many restaurants on Ocean Majesty on which the film is shot in parts. And what was the reason for the song not being shot on board the ship? Galani is terse in his reply. “Actually, we wanted to shoot this song aboard the Ocean Majesty as well, but we couldn’t get the permission. So, we asked R. Varman to recreate the ship. This restaurant is just one part of it.”

The stage has a glass floor with water flowing beneath it. The song Mehbooba mehbooba, rendered by the current pop sensation, Adnan Sami, and Sunidhi Chauhan, has a foot-tapping rhythm and could well go on to become a chartbuster. Ganesh Acharya, all charged up as usual, shows the steps to Akshay and Bipasha along with fifty other dancers. While the actress takes some time in getting the steps right, Akshay is ready with the movements in a jiffy. A few rehearsals later, Bipasha masters the steps and the shot is canned.

The story of Ajnabee is set abroad, so the film has been shot entirely on foreign locations — in Mauritius, Singapore and Switzerland, with the climax having been shot on Ocean Majesty. The four lead characters, played by Akshay Kumar, Bobby Deol, Kareena Kapoor and Bipasha Basu, are all NRIs in the film. As usual, the unit is tight-lipped about the story. When asked about it, director Abbas quips, “Ajnabee ko ajnabee hi rehne do, otherwise how will the ajnabee remain a stranger?!”

For Akshay, “Ajnabee is out-and-out a suspense thriller.” Explaining the title, he says, the message in the film is ‘never love a stranger, never talk to a stranger and never follow a stranger’. Akshay reposes a lot of faith in the film which, according to him, has “a lot of thrills and edge-of-the-seat action”. Akshay is quite optimistic about his films on hand. He plays the lead in Dharmesh Darshan’s Haan… Maine Pyaar Kiya, Suneel Darshan’s Ek Rishtaa – The Bond Of Love and Vipul Shah’s All The Best, which are all at different stages of production at present. What’s more, the last two films have him pitted against Amitabh Bachchan, no less. And how was the experience of working with the Big B? Akshay is all smiles: “It was a great pleasure working with him. In the beginning, I used to rehearse my lines twice more than I usually did, so that I performed perfectly in front of him. I was nervous because I was in such awe of him. I knew that competing with him is a near-impossible task. Later, of course, I realised that the key to working with Mr. Bachchan was to just be myself. Once I figured that out, everything was cool.”

Bipasha is obviously excited about Ajnabee. The well-known model makes her acting debut with this film. Ajnabee, however, is not her only project on hand. She will also be seen in Vikram Bhatt’s Raaz, Priyadarsan’s next, yet untitled, Raman Kumar’s next and a few films down South. Talking about her role in the film, she gushes, “I play a confident and ambitious girl in the film — a character quite close to how I am in real life. I play one of the leads. What more can I ask for in my first film?”

Vijay Galani was extremely careful in picking the right subject before finalising Ajnabee. He says, “I heard out several subjects before zeroing in on story ideas by four different script writers — Neeraj Vora, Shyam Duggal, Sanjeev Duggal and Robin Bhatt.” And what about too many cooks spoiling the broth? Pat comes the reply, “I don’t agree at all. Rather, the coming together of four brilliant ideas is what Ajnabee is all about. Abbas Mustan and I never had any difficulty in listening out four storylines. We had a separate sitting with each writer before working as a team to interweave the stories into one tight script.” While the screenplay was being readied, Galani signed the lead pairs — Akshay-Bipasha and Bobby-Kareena. Galani recounts the experience: “The moment we began discussing the cast, we knew Akshay was the perfect choice to play one of the lead roles. If you remember, Abbas Mustan had given Akshay his first hit in Khiladi. The duo had also given a hit with Bobby Deol in Soldier. So, we thought, why not combine khiladi and solider this time. The idea appealed to everyone and we signed Bobby. Then, we wanted a sweet, innocent and beautiful girl opposite Bobby. Kareena Kapoor, who had only Refugee to her credit at that time, seemed a very good choice…. and let me add, she has put in a spirited performance in Ajnabee. Finally, we took Bipasha who plays a tall, dusky and seductive heroine, opposite Akshay.”

Vijay Galani has also signed Bobby Deol for his next two ventures, to be directed by Mahesh Manjrekar and Priyadarsan. The latter co-stars Anil Kapoor.

Excellent music has always been the hallmark of Abbas Mustan’s films, be it Baazigar, Soldier or the recent Chori Chori Chupke Chupke. Abbas reveals the key to their success thus, “The script is always a highlight in our film apart from music which always hits the jackpot. After we finalise a script, we try to insert songs depending on the situations. We put songs only if the situation demands. The music of Ajnabee, too, is situational.” He concludes, “No matter what, the Adnan-Sunidhi number alongwith the title track will be one of the best-heard songs of this year.”

All in all, Ajnabee does come across as an exciting package. But will Ajnabee come through at the box-office? Why not? Stranger things have turned true.

– SUJATA CHANDA

ONE 2 KA 4

Glamour Films’ One 2 Ka 4 (UA) is a crime thriller which tries to cater to the family audience too. An unconvincing story and an apology of a screenplay (Manoj Lalwani and Rajkumar Dahima) make the drama so poor that it is difficult to comprehend the director’s reason behind making such a film. Except for some comedy scenes and the dialogues (Sanjay Chhel) in those scenes, there’s precious little in the film to sustain audience interest.

The story revolves around two friends, Javed (Jackie Shroff) and Arun (Shah Rukh Khan), working for a special task force which combats drug trafficking. Javed dotes on four motherless children whom Arun can’t stand. Javed is killed and it falls upon Arun to look after his kids. For this, he takes the help of a rustic girl, Geeta (Juhi Chawla). Geeta falls in love with Arun. But the latter is shocked to see another side of Geeta — a dancer in the club of the drug lord whom he is gunning for. The climax unfolds the true identity of Geeta and the killers of Javed.

As poor as the script — or perhaps, even poorer — is Shashilal Nair’s direction. Shah Rukh Khan’s characterisation does not at all befit a hero. For instance, one kid staying with Jackie constantly kicks Shah Rukh and addresses him very demeaningly. Similarly, Juhi Chawla often slaps Shah Rukh. While all this may appear to pass off as cute comedy, it undermines the hero’s character so badly that the audience can’t take anything the hero does after being slapped and kicked, seriously. There’s no justification for Shah Rukh robbing the drug mafia. He sets out to rob money for meeting the needs of his colleagues (one of whom has committed suicide) but ends up buying a house for himself and the kids with the money. Did the kids threaten to commit suicide, like his colleague?

The comedy is enjoyable but it is of the kind that will appeal to the city audience mainly. The climax is long-drawn and predictable. Romance is missing. Emotions are pathetic and they fall flat.

Shah Rukh Khan acts ably, as always, but the slapstick comedy involving him undermines the importance of his character. Juhi Chawla is the scene-stealer and excels with her Haryanvi dialogues. Her comedy scenes are simply fabulous and her sense of timing, stupendous. Jackie Shroff is good as the doting father. Nirmal Pandey, as the drug lord, irritates endlessly and confuses screaming and grimacing for acting. Dilip Joshi, as Shah Rukh’s friend, is natural to the core. Akash Khurana does a fairly good job. Raj Zutshi leaves a mark. Sahila Chaddha, Bharat Dabholkar and Keith Stevenson lend average support. Baby Gazala is superb. Baby Sana, master Shanoo and master Hunny are cute and capable.

Shashilal Nair fails to convey anything through the film. The emotions are flawed and the drama meanders aimlessly. A.R. Rahman’s music is a mixed bag. ‘Osaka moreiya’, ‘Dil ki baazi lagaa’ and ‘Aale Aale’ are the better songs. A couple of song picturisations are eye-filling. Sets (Nitin Desai) are rich. S. Kumar’s camerawork is of a good standard. Action scenes comprise more gun-shots than fist-fights and that is the drawback because the audience enjoy hand-to-hand fights.

On the whole, One 2 Ka 4 has an ultra-frivolous title, poor story, poorer screenplay, and weak direction. It will entail heavy losses to all concerned.

Released on 30-3-2001 at Novelty, New Empire and 22 other cinemas of Bombay thru Anugraha Entertainment. Publicity: very good. Opening: very ordinary. …….Also released all over. Opening was dull in Gujarat, parts of Delhi, U.P., East Punjab, C.P. Berar and other circuits too.

LATEST POSITION

The dull opening of ONE 2 KA 4 may not have exactly sent shock-waves in the industry but it has, nevertheless, once again made people sit up and ponder — for two days, at least, after which all will be forgotten, once again. 

Chhupa Rustam has done extraordinary in Bihar (expected business: at least 1 crore). It is also very good in U.P. and East Punjab (entire MG royalty and print-publicity cost will be recovered in 2 weeks). Shares from centres of Maharashtra are good; is very bad in Gujarat. Not good in Delhi and C.P. Berar. Rajasthan and Nizam: fair. 1st week Bombay 23,42,275 (41.60%) from 10 cinemas (4 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 3,55,970 from 4 cinemas (2 unrecd.), Rajkot 77,820; Solapur (27 shows) 1,26,386; Delhi 14,00,373 (26.97%) from 9 cinemas; Lucknow 2,88,645, Allahabad 1,95,600; Nagpur 1,29,435 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 44,236, Amravati 1,04,546, Akola 67,218, Raipur (6 days) 43,263, Jalgaon 1,01,294; Jaipur 2,39,968 (26.49%) from 2 cinemas, Ajmer (gross, 29 shows) 1,28,422, Bikaner 80,172; Hyderabad (gross) 12,23,531 from 7 cinemas (1 on F.H.). Total 69,49,154 from 45 cinemas.

………..

Chori Chori Chupke Chupke 3rd week Bombay 38,21,612 (62.29%) from 13 cinemas (6 on F.H.), total for 3 weeks 1,73,76,178; Ahmedabad 12,95,408 from 5 cinemas, Rajkot 1,76,390 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Jamnagar 67,372; Solapur 1,86,837 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Barsi 60,032, Satara 72,633 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Delhi 28,84,688 from 10 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Kanpur 1,53,860 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 3,10,733, Allahabad 1,17,000, Bareilly (6 days) 32,062, Jaunpur 15,000; Calcutta 5,62,327 from 3 cinemas; Nagpur 2,60,980 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 1,17,239, Amravati 1,55,923, Akola 1,31,600, total 6,18,700, Raipur (gross, 6 days) 1,51,523, Durg 40,030, Jalgaon 1,24,974, Chandrapur 78,405, total 4,18,656, Yavatmal 55,872, total 2,91,841; Indore 1,50,000 from 2 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Ajmer 65,736, Bikaner 1,13,074; Hyderabad (gross) 5,58,717 from 2 cinemas (1 unrecd.). Total 1,17,60,027 from 61 cinemas.

SHEMAROO VIDEO: A DREAM POST-PRODUCTION STUDIO

The Shemaroo House at Marol Naka, Andheri (East) in Bombay is grand, to say the least. Built by Raman Maroo, the three-storeyed building houses a complete video post-production studio.

The equipments installed are a 2K Da Vinci multi-format digital, HDTV and SDTV colour enhancement system and a Philips Shadow Telecine. Thanks to the colour corrector and enhancer, a scene in a film can even be re-lit after it has been shot. When used in conjunction with the Philips Telecine machine, it gives unimaginable power to the technician.

Philips Telecine is the first of its kind in India. The Telecine and 2K Da Vinci allow film and serial makers, ad filmmakers, cinematographers and editors a new level of control and quality improvements at the transfer stage. The ‘colour doctor’ can treat and provide old films a new lease of life.

The DVD mastering suite in the studio uses the DVD Fab. The suite offers the complete range of services in DVD creation — from encoding in MPEG2 and authoring to DVD-R or DLT pre-mastering. It also helps make interactive movie titles, music videos etc. The DVNR Image Processing Work-station supports the highest standards in image enhancement, colour correction, compression pre-processing and format conversions — all in real time.

The other facilities the post-production studio offers are: Digi-Beta AB Roll; non-linear editing; format transfers; sound mixes and high-tech conversions from mono 6/8-track surround on a variety of outputs; a software library of Indian movies, film songs and entertainment programmes.

FILM FINANCES INC. ENTERS INDIAN MARKET

Leading global film completion guarantee provider Film Finances Inc. has announced plans of entering the Indian film market. The entry of a completion guarantee provider is a natural corollary to the recent decision made by financial institutions such as IDBI to lend money for film production. Completion bonds will make it easier for the filmmakers to obtain institutionalised finance. The bond assures the financier that the film will be delivered on time and over-budget costs, if any, will not be the financier’s responsibility. Film Finance’s completion bond will also assure the producers that their investments are secured by Lloyds of London and underwriters.

Film Finances Inc. has provided completion guarantees to several leading studios in the UK, US, Australia, Canada, France and other countries. It had also provided completion bonds to three films shot in India — Mira Nair’s Kamasutra – A Tale Of Love, Shekhar Kapur’s Bandit Queen, and Ismail Merchant’s Cotton Mary.

SUNIL DUTT RECUPERATING

Sunil Dutt, who survived an air-crash on the night of 26th March near Nasik, is recovering in the ICU at Breach Candy Hospital in Bombay. His injured foot was operated upon. He is still complaining of pain in the shoulder.

The star-MP was on his way from Shirpur to Nasik in a private aircraft. The aeroplane crash-landed around 11 p.m. and soon caught fire. Fortunately, all the six people inside the aircraft managed to escape from the plane which was engulfed in flames. The pilot was seriously injured and has lost his eyesight.

Sunil Dutt and the other four passengers were flown to Bombay and admitted to hospital on 27th morning. Dutt is likely to be discharged from hospital after a few more days. He was returning from Shirpur where he had gone to attend the inauguration of an enterprise of industrialist Mukesh Patel. Travelling with him were Mukesh Patel’s daughter, two nieces and another lady-relative of Patel.

On hearing the news, Sanjay Dutt rushed from Mahabaleshwar where he was shooting for Mahesh Manjrekar’s Pitaah. “Dad’s fine and out of danger,” informed a relieved Sanjay on 27th. The actor left for Mahabaleshwar again on 27th night. “I have two days’ work remaining, so I’m leaving for Mahabaleshwar again,” he explained.

SANGEET NATAK ACADEMY AWARD FOR GURDAS MAAN

The Punjabi Sangeet Natak Academy recently presented an award to pop icon Gurdas Maan for his eminent contribution to the world of performing arts. Maan was honoured for putting Punjabi music on the national and international maps. Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, presented the award.

As Owners, Employees Remain Adamant

WEST BENGAL CINEMA STRIKE ENTERS 9TH DAY

The cinema employees’ strike in West Bengal entered its ninth day today (31st March) with no settlement in sight. A meeting was held between the cinema owners, the striking employees’ Union and the government earlier this week. The government’s anti-owner stance was all too obvious at the meet.

In the meantime, cinema employees visited offices of various distributors in Calcutta, like Musical, Rajshri and Damani to prevail upon them to not supply prints to cinemas which are not closed due to the fact that their employees do not owe allegiance to the Bengal Motion Pictures Employees Union (BMPEU). There are about 70 cinemas across the state, including about 25 in the capital city, which are running. This week’s One 2 Ka 4 had a limited release at the cinemas which are functioning. The striking employees tried to scuttle the release of One 2 Ka 4 by not permitting the prints to leave the office of its distributor, Venkatesh 2000. But the distributor, anticipating some problem, had arranged for the prints to be delivered to the cinemas directly from the airport. Metro is the only main cinema of Calcutta, which is running.

The BMPEU is contemplating asking employees of the running cinemas to also go on strike in a show of solidarity.

IMAX: Beyond The Thunderdome

The first IMAX screen of India was inaugurated on 25th March at Wadala in Bombay. Built at a cost of Rs. 40 crore, the IMAX cinema is the baby of Manmohan Shetty’s Adlabs which had gone in for a public issue a few months back. Adlabs started out with a film processing laboratory and is the premiere lab in Bombay today. The IMAX concept, as is common knowledge, is imported from Hollywood.

Besides the IMAX cinema, the complex will have four normal screens too. However, while the IMAX screen is to be thrown open to the public from today (31st March), the other cinemas will take a few months to open. Manmohan Shetty informed, “The other screens are ready, only the interior is being done up now.”

The IMAX Adlabs Theatre was inaugurated at the hands of Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal. There are three shows of one hour each for invitees on the day of the launch. A 10-minute film, Maa Tujhe Salaam, produced by BharatBala Productions, was screened. It was followed by Mysteries Of Egypt from the IMAX library. A host of top names from the industry attended the screenings. The inauguration function was preceded by a dance performance. It was followed by dinner.

The cinema has a seating capacity of 518. For the uninitiated, the IMAX screen is round, like a dome — from left to right and covers the ceiling of the auditorium too. The viewer gets the feeling of being right where the action is while watching the film. Especially fascinating or frightening — depending on how strong- or weak-hearted you are — are the sequences when the camera moves at great speed and the viewer gets the feeling of moving along with it. Imagine then, if the camera is moving at a height atop a mountain range and suddenly, there’s a deep valley that it covers. You almost feel as though you are dropping down, deep into the valley. The feeling may be akin to the one you are likely to experience if you are piloting an aeroplane for the first time and have lost control of it. To add to your ‘woes’, it is moving at great speed. Or picturise a scene showing waves of the sea in full fury, splashing all across the screen, and you seated right in the middle of it all!

The IMAX dome in Bombay is the largest in the world. Manmohan Shetty revealed that the admission rates would be Rs. 150 for an adult, and Rs. 100 for a child. After the formal launch, Shetty smiled, “The IMAX people did not believe me when I told them, I was ready to launch the cinema on March 25. They warned me, it was too hurried a start and asked me to reschedule the inauguration. But I stuck to my guns as I was confident, nothing would go wrong. They are surprised, I could do it.”

Another first with the cinema is that the projection room would be in full view of the public. Located on the first floor, it has glass walls all around so that the public outside can see how the projector beams the IMAX film on the huge screen. The projector is computer-operated. The theatre has a huge foyer, a beautiful fountain, a spacious cafetaria and an escalator.

It would not be out of place to mention here that normal films cannot be screened in an IMAX theatre. Only films specially made for the giant screen can be shown in it. The IMAX library has about 150 films, a mix of entertaining and educational fare.

The theatre is located at Bhakti Park, Anik-Wadala Link Road. Five shows will be held on Saturdays, and 8 shows on Sundays. The telephone numbers of the cinema are 403-6463 and 403-6474.

Anil Kapoor, Raveena Bag National Awards
Three Jury Members Resign

Anil Kapoor was declared winner of the National Award for the best actor for year 2000, on 27th March in New Delhi. He bagged the award for his outstanding performance in brother Boney Kapoor’s Pukar, directed by Rajkumar Santoshi. Raveena Tandon won the best actress award for her sterling performance in Kalpana Lajmi’s yet unreleased Daman. Jayaraj’s Malayalam film, Shantham, picked up the award for the best film.

The 48th National Film Awards were announced by chairperson of the National Film Awards 2000 jury, Vyjayanthimala Bali, even as three members of the jury resigned and said that the awards were rigged. The three resigning members — filmmaker Pradeep Krishen, Shashi Anand and Madhumita Raut — were particularly critical of the awards presented to Anil Kapoor, Raveena Tandon and Pukar. Boney’s film bagged the Nargis Dutt award for the best film on national integration.

The three who resigned said that even as they landed in Delhi to decide on the winners, Raveena Tandon’s name was being circulated among a majority of the jury as if she had been prejudged the winner. Pukar, they said, had been rejected for viewing but was recalled. Vyjayanthimala clarified that there was no question of rigging. She added that like Pukar, there were several other films which had been rejected by one panel but recalled by another. This, she added, was perfectly in order. A fourth jury member, Dhritiman Chatterjee, sent a dissent note to the President of India, protesting against the selection procedure. He, however, did not resign.

The Tamil film, Vanathaippola, was adjudged the best film providing wholesome entertainment. Rituparno Ghosh got the award for the best director for Utsab (Bengali). This is the celebrated director’s third Swarna Kamal. H.G. Dattatreya and K.P.A.C. Lalitha were declared the best supporting actor and supporting actress for their performances in Munadi (Kannada) and Shantham (Malayalam) respectively.

Anu Malik’s music in Refugee won him his first National Award. The film also fetched an award for Javed Akhtar’s lyrics for the song Panchhi nadiya. The lyricist shared the award with Yusafali Kechery for a Krishna bhajan written by him for the Malayalam film Mazha. This year’s award of Javed Akhtar was the fourth in the last five years. Shankar Mahadevan picked up the award for the best male playback singer for Illai Illai in the Tamil film, Kandukondain Kandukondain. The best female singer’s award was bagged by R. Bhavatharini for another Tamil film, Bharathi. This film also got two awards for P. Krishnamoorthy, one for the best art director and the other, for the best costume designer. It was also declared the best Tamil language film. Bharathiraja bagged the best screenplay award for Kaadhal Pookkal (Tamil). Ashok Mehta’s Moksha brought two awards — one, for the best cinematography (Ashok Mehta), and the other, for the best audiography (Anup Dev). Suresh Pai and Apurva Asrani were adjudged the best editors (English Snip!). The best choreography award was picked up by G. Kala for the Malayalam film Kochu Kochu Santhoshangal.

The Indira Gandhi award for the best first film of a director was won by R. Saratha’s Sayahnam (Malayalam). This and Kochu Kochu Santhoshangal also shared the award for the best Malayalam language film.

The other language films which bagged the regional language film awards are: Shyam Benegal’s Zubeidaa (Hindi), Goutam Ghose’s Dekha (Bengali), Mahesh Manjrekar’s Astitva (Marathi), Mathadana (Kannada), Chatledo Eidee (Manipuri), Nuvve Kaavaali (Telugu) and Pandavas (English).

Master Udayaraj was declared the best child actor for Nilaa Kalam (Tamil). Malayalam Graharaksharangal was adjudged the best children’s film.

Amol Palekar’s Kal Kaa Aadmi picked up the award for the best film on family welfare. Last year too, Amol Palekar had bagged this award. Vetrikkodi Kattu (Tamil) and Munadi (Kannada) were adjudged the best films on other social issues. Malayalam Oru Cheru Punchiri was declared the best film on environment conservation/presentation.

Soumitra Chatterjee, who was a strong contender for the best actor award, won the special jury award for his role in the Bengali hit Dekha.

Sholay, written by Anupama Chopra, wife of filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra and daughter of writer Kamna Chandra, won the award for the best book on cinema. Suresh Sharma was adjudged the best film critic. Bharathi S. Pradhan was the chairperson of the jury for best writing on cinema.

Among the members of the film jury were Pawan Kumar, Mac Mohan and Shashi Ranjan.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Unprofessional!

Corporatisation of the film industry is all very fine but what about the unprofessional attitude of stars and technicians? Even as producer Vashu Bhagnani is planning to go public, Tabu has walked out of his Om Jai Jagdish. Tabu was one of the three leading ladies in the story of three brothers being played by Anil Kapoor, Fardeen Khan and Abhishek Bachchan. The other two heroines are Urmila Matondkar and Diya Mirza. According to writer Rahul Nanda, “She walked out of the project without any tangible reason.” Vashu can’t believe that any heroine could be as callous as Tabu has been. “She refuses to answer my telephone calls, and the same holds true for her secretary,” lamented Vashu. “And this, after committing me the dates. I agree that it is my mistake that I didn’t take anything in writing, but does a heroine’s word have no value?” Tabu’s secretary, Punkej Kharabanda, made a casual defence, saying, “They never informed us the dates they wanted and now, it is difficult to accommodate them.” Whatever the reason, the last-minute walk-out is definitely not a very professional step by Tabu. A huge set of the film has been erected, and shooting on it has commenced. Tabu was also to participate in the schedule. If Tabu continues with such moody walkouts, her name may soon be spelt ‘Taboo’ by producers!

Excellent Song, Exquisite Picturisation

The craze for Venus’ Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya… is building up, slowly but surely. The audience in the cities is liking the promotional trailers on satellite channels. Even more exciting is the theatrical trailer of the film, which one had an opportunity to see this week. One also saw two songs of Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya… and must say the Ishq number is extraordinary. Choreographer Ganesh Hegde, debut-making director Rajat Mukherjee, cameraman Sanjay F. Gupta (who shoots a lot of music videos) and editor Chandan have done a marvellous job of the excellently tuned (Sandeep Chowta) song (picturised on Urmila Mantondkar and Fardeen Khan) and have made it a veritable visual treat. And this, even though Fardeen is not a great dancer! Ram Gopal Varma, whose production the film is, is honest enough to admit that his contribution to the song picturisation is nil. The title track is also beautifully shot. Going by the songs, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the audience would be reminded of Urmila Matondkar of the Rangeela days. It does seem, this Venus presentation will take an exciting start in ‘A’ class centres. Incidentally, the film has a running time of a little over 2 hours.

Discovery Channel!

Even as Ram Gopal Varma readies himself for Company, starring Ajay Devgan and South’s Mohanlal, he is in conversation with cameraman Sanjay F. Gupta whom he is likely to give a directorial break to. “While my Company will start in April,” informs Ramu, “Sanjay F. Gupta’s film will take a few months to roll.” It must be said, Ramu is, perhaps, the only producer-director toady who has the guts to introduce new talent one after the other. The number of people he has discovered is not small. His assistant, E. Niwas, made his directorial debut in Ramu and Nitin Manmohan’s Shool. Rajat Mukherjee, with no formal training in direction and without having assisted any director, got a break to direct Ramu’s Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya…. Writer Anurag Kahyap is also Ramu’s discovery and so is music director Sandeep Chowta (in Hindi films). Taufeeq Baraskar, another assistant of Ramu, has turned a director with Aankh Micholi, starring Nana Patekar. Aftab Shivdasani and Sushant owe their status in the film industry to Ramu. Actually, Urmila Matondkar and Fardeen Khan also owe their rebirth to Ram Gopal Varma. Manoj Bajpayee shot to prominence only after the prominent role he played in Ramu’s Satya. There are several other technicians whom Ramu has introduced in the industry. Time, the IMPPA honoured this 30-plus director for having given the industry so much. Or are IMPPA honours meant only for 60-plus achievers?

CHHUPA RUSTAM

Seven Arts Pictures’ Chhupa Rustam (UA) is a suspense thriller. A multi-millionaire boy sets out to solve the mystery behind his father’s death when he learns that the death was not an accident, as believed, but rather a murder. He, too, is killed by vested interests. In his place comes his look-alike who scares the wits out of those who plotted the murder of the multi-millionaire boy. The look-alike not only solves the mystery the boy had set out to, but also exposes a wily police officer who had, even before the rich boy’s murder, planned to plant him (look-alike) in his (rich boy’s) place. The revelation by the look-alike about his actual identity shocks the villains who end up caught in a no-win situation.

The film, made in a crude style, appeals only to the masses. There’s no freshness in concept or content but the pace is reasonably fast, which keeps the audience interest alive. Further, the inter-weaving of comedy with the tension-filled suspense goes down well with the masses. On the minus side, the suspense revelation is hardly exciting. The tracks of the two heroines are quite inconsequential. There’s nothing whatsoever in the film for the class audience. Dialogues are good at places.

Sanjay Kapoor does a good job in a double role. Manisha Koirala is average. Mamta Kulkarni impresses in acting as well as dances. Her dialogue delivery, which used to be superfast, is perfect now. Raj Babbar’s underplaying his character in a film that has crudity as its hallmark, seems out of place. Dalip Tahhil is quite effective. Tinnu Anand entertains a great deal; he is ably assisted by witty dialogues (Aadesh K. Arjun). Laxmikant Berde is also very natural. Navneet Nishan performs beautifully. Ram Sethi, Mushtaq Khan and baby Neha lend good support. Viju Khote, Vishwajit Pradhan, Subbiraj, Avtar Gill, Satyen Kappu and the rest are adequate.

Aziz Sejawal’s direction is fair. Some punches of writers Rajiv Kaul and Praful Parekh and a few directorial touches of Sejawal are quite enjoyable. Music (Anand Milind) may not appeal to the city audience but it will go down well with the public in the interiors, especially in U.P. and Bihar. The title song, ‘Dil mat dena meri souten ko’, ‘Tu hai mere dil mein’ and ‘Yeh chand’ are the hummable ones and their picturisations will appeal to front-benchers mainly. Locations are terribly ordinary. Camerawork is okay. Action scenes are dull. The film has taken a long time in the making and the staleness shows. Editing is jerky. Technically, very average.

On the whole, Chhupa Rustam, having been sold at throwaway prices, will keep most of its distributors smiling though the producer will not be able to come out of the red.

Released on 23-3-2001 at Metro and 13 other cinemas of Bombay thru Anugraha Entertainment. Publicity: good. Opening: fair. …….Also released in Delhi-U.P., East Punjab, Eastern circuit, C.P. Berar, Rajasthan and Nizam. Opening was impressive in U.P. and Bihar but very ordinary in C.P. Berar and Rajasthan.

LATEST POSITION

Examinations and cricket matches are adversely affecting collections.

………..

Chori Chori Chupke Chupke is strong in Bombay and Gujarat. It dropped badly in Bengal, Bihar, C.I. and Rajasthan. 2nd week Bombay 59,14,183 (75.46%) from 15 cinemas (6 on F.H.), total for 2 weeks 1,35,54,566; Ahmedabad 17,38,356 from 5 cinemas, Jamnagar 98,574; Pune 9,21,581 from 4 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 2,48,885 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Hubli 2,19,817; Delhi 52,88,550 from 14 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Lucknow 5,62,013 from 2 cinemas, Agra 2,75,000, Allahabad 1,75,000, Bareilly (3 days) 53,955 (1st week 7 days 2,32,713), Jaunpur 35,000 (1st 75,000); Nagpur 4,52,309 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 1,74,575, Balaghat 55,252, total 1,57,610, Amravati 2,24,125, Raipur (6 days) 1,97,161, Bhilai (6 days) 47,787, Durg 61,504, Jalgaon 1,65,236, Wardha 83,743, Chandrapur 1,27,233, total 3,40,252; Indore 1,87,000 from 2 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Jaipur (24 shows) 4,69,590 (82.31%), Ajmer 1,05,704, Bikaner 1,74,284; Hyderabad (gross) 5,79,821 from 2 cinemas (1 on F.H.). Total 1,86,36,238 from 65 cinemas.

CHOWK TO BE NAMED AFTER SHREE RAM BOHRA

The junction of Altamount Road and Anasty Road in South Bombay will be named Shree Ram Bohra Chowk, after the late IMPPA president, at a function on 1st April. The naming ceremony will be performed by star-MP Sunil Dutt in the presence of Murli Deora, MP, and Kishan Jadhav, municipal councillor.

ADLABS’ IMAX CINEMA TO OPEN ON 25TH MARCH

India’s first IMAX cinema hall will open on 25th March with the screening of a specially-made film by BharatBala Productions. Called IMAX Adlabs Theatre, the cinema is equipped with the special IMAX screen which is ten times the size of a normal screen. It has 20,000 watts of digital 6-channel surround sound. It is located at Wadala, Bombay. Besides an IMAX screen, the theatre complex has four more screens which will open later.

The inauguration of the IMAX theatre will be done by Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal.

‘CHITRALEKHA’ CELEBRATES GOLDEN JUBILEE

The Chitralekha group, which brings out the leading Gujarati weekly, Chitralekha, and film glossy g, celebrated the completion of its 50 years yesterday (23rd March) with a party at The Club, Bombay. Falguni Pathak’s performance was the highlight of the party.

CINTAA COLLECTS RS. 2.7 LAKH FOR QUAKE RELIEF

The Cine & TV Artistes’ Association has collected Rs. 2,70,157 from its members for rehabilitation of the victims of the earthquake in Gujarat. Among the prominent donors are Amrish Puri and Om Puri, who donated Rs. 1 lakh each.

WEST BENGAL CINEMA EMPLOYEES STRIKE WORK
750 Cinemas In State Wear Deserted Look

Almost 750 cinemas in West Bengal downed shutters on 23rd March as employees owing allegiance to the Bengal Motion Pictures Employees Union (BMPEU) went on an indefinite strike. The Union is demanding a 70% hike in basic salaries of cinema employees.

All efforts to avert the strike failed. At a meeting held on 22nd at the Writers Building, the workers rejected the cinema owners’ offer of a 30% increase in basic salaries. Labour minister Shanti Ghatak attended the meeting, besides representatives of cinema owners (EIMPA) and the BMPEU. Ghatak was sympathetic towards the employees and said at the meeting that a revised pay scale for cinema employees was long overdue.

Pradip Dey, a spokesman of the EIMPA, passed the buck to the labour government of West Bengal and said that cinema owners were in no position to concede the demands of their staff until the government provided reliefs such as a hike in service charge on cinema tickets.

The EIMPA estimated a loss of Rs. 10 crore per month to the closed cinemas because of the strike.

In Calcutta city, a handful of cinemas like Metro, Priya and Basusree, the employees of which do not owe allegiance to the Union, remained open.

SURESH VORA CRITICAL

Bombay distributor Suresh Vora is critically ill. He is undergoing treatment at his residence at Bandra, Bombay.

CINEMA OWNER DEAD

Srinivas V. Rakle, owner of Mahatma Talkies, Akluj (dist. Solapur), expired on 22nd March in Pune following a fall in which he suffered brain injuries. He was 73. Mahatma Talkies and Shriram Chitramandir, Akluj (not owned by Rakle) remained closed yesterday (23rd).

YOU ASKED IT

Do you think, Aamir Khan’s Lagaan, a rural subject, will take a good initial in today’s times?

– It won’t take a good start but will rather take a great start! The curiosity for LAGAAN among the class audience is tremendous. By the time the film hits the screens on 1st June, the craze among the masses will also be terrific.

Which film had the maximum number of songs?

– Madan Theatres’ INDRASABHA which had 71 songs! It was released in 1932. The film’s music was scored by Nagardas Nayak. It starred Nissar, Kajjan and Mukhtar Begum. 

Is it true that Aks will be released on May 4 or 11?

– Yes, AKS is slated for early May release but there’s no publicity as yet. 

PRODUCTION NEWS

‘Na Tum Jaano Na Hum’ Progresses

PFH Entertainment Ltd.’s Na Tum Jaano Na Hum was shot at Ballard Pier and Water Kingdom on March 18 and 19. A scene and portion of a song were picturised on Saif Ali Khan, Rakhi Sawant and Shilpa Saklani who makes a guest appearance. Being directed by Arjun Sablok, the film stars Hrithik Roshan, Esha Deol, Moushumi Chatterjee, Rati Agnihotri, Smita Jayakar, Alok Nath, Anang Desai and Achla Sachdev. Music: Rajesh Roshan. Lyrics: Anand Bakshi. Editor: Shirish Kunder. Cinematographer: Nataraja Subramanian.

Akshay, Rambha Shoot For Rajkumar Kohli’s Film

A 5-day shooting spell of Shankar Movies’ Prod. No. 25 at Sumila bungalow, Studio F-21, a hospital and on Bombay locales was completed on March 23. Romantic, dramatic and emotional scenes were picturised on Akshay Kumar, Rambha, Aditya Pancholi, Sharad Kapoor, Arshad Warsi, Rajat Bedi, Mahi, newfind Kiran Rathod and Munish Kohli. Being produced and directed by Rajkumar Kohli, the film co-stars Sunny Deol, Sunil Shetty, Manisha Koirala, Aftab Shivdasani, Siddharth, Payal, Mohini Sharma, Nikita, Raju Mavani, Johny Lever, Raj Babbar and Sonu Nigam alongwith Atul Agnihotri in a guest appearance. Story: Aatish. Dialogues: K.K. Singh. Music: Anand Milind. Lyrics: Sameer. Editors: Kuku and Cuckoo. Cinematographers: Thomas A. Xavier and Damodar Naidu. Action: Tinnu Verma. Art: Sunil Singh. Sound: J.P. Saigal. Nishi presents the film.

‘Maa Tujhe Salaam’ Nears Completion

The entire shooting of Indian Movies’ Maa Tujhe Salaam will be completed on March 28 with the conclusion of a month-long stint in Kulu Manali. The film is being produced by Mahendra Dhariwal and directed by Tinnu Verma. It stars Sunny Deol, Arbaaz Khan, Tabu, Rajat Bedi, Prithvi, Avtar Gill, Rana Jung Bahadur, Anang Desai, Deep Dhillon, Nawab, Anil Nagrath, Sheela Sharma, Jeetu Verma, Sharat Saxena, Ali Khan, Sudesh Berry and Malaika Arora Khan in a friendly appearance. Story writer and action director: Tinnu Verma. Screenplay: Shyam K. Goel. Dialogues: K.K. Singh. Lyrics: Sameer. Music: Sajid-Wajid. Cinematography: Raju Kaygee. Dances: Rekha Chinni Prakash and Ricky-James. Art: Sameer Chanda and Shyam Satyen. Sound: Rakesh Ranjan.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

A Bouquet Of Thorns

Sanjay Gupta’s Kaante is one helluva proposal. It stars Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Sunil Shetty and Kumar Gaurav. Mahesh Manjrekar, director of such films as Astitva, Kurukshetra and Nidaan, makes his acting debut (on the big screen — he has been a stage actor) in Kaante. Singer Lucky Ali also plays a role in this story of six criminals. Actually, they are five criminals and one of them is a cop posing as a criminal.

Sanjay Gupta plans to shoot the entire film in a single schedule of 50 days in the US, beginning August this year. “It is for this reason that I’ve waited for more than a year,” explains Gupta who is currently finalising a complete Hollywood team of technicians, besides the supporting cast of Indian and Hollywood actors.

Partnering Gupta in the project is Sanjay Dutt who is as excited about it as his partner and buddy “Gups” is.

Sanjay Gupta’s booklet, which he has got specially made for the film, is terrific. What’s more, Gupta has made a promotional trailer even before actual shooting has begun.

While negotiations are on with a couple of corporates (including a Hollywood production company) to co-produce the film, Sanjay Gupta has already concluded deals for music, Overseas and all non-theatrical rights with Zee.

Sanjay Gupta reveals that Sanjay Dutt is involved not just as a producer but also creatively in the screenplay writing. As he informs, “Anurag Kashyap and I are writing the screenplay but Sanju’s inputs have been so much that we just might add his name in the credit title too.” Incidentally, Bobby Anand was to partner Sanjay Gupta in the project but the partnership has been dissolved and the baby now belongs to two Sanjay’s — Gupta and Dutt.

Confusion Galore 

There has been a lot of confusion over the release dates of at least two forthcoming films — Tips’ Albela and Time’s Jodi No. 1. While Albela has always been announced as releasing on 20th April, the release of Jodi No. 1 is shuttling between two dates — April 13 and 20. G.D. Mehta, the Delhi-U.P. distributor of Jodi No. 1, has been insisting that the film will come on 20th April and only 20th April. Why, he has even booked his chain of cinemas from 20th. But the distributors of the other circuits are all finalising their cinema chains from 13th April because that is the date given by the producers. In the meantime, Tips has got posters of Albela, with screaming headlines of the release date (20th April), already printed. According to Ramesh Taurani of Tips, “Time, Venus and Tips have an understanding between themselves because of which the release of their films will never clash with one another. That is why, Time’s Jodi No. 1 was scheduled for 13th April release, our Albela for 20th, and Venus’ Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya… for 27th April.” Incidentally, there was talk earlier this week of postponement of the Venus film by a week but it is again April 27 now.

Pretty Effective

If there’s one film for which the craze is growing day by day, it is Aamir Khan’s Lagaan. The promotional trailer of the film makes it stand out from the other films being advertised. In other words, the trailer is very effective.

Talking of trailers, Venus’ Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya…, Tips’ Albela and Vashu Bhagnani’s Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai are being extensively publicised. Suneel Darshan, too, has big plans for the publicity of his Ek Rishtaa – The Bond Of Love which is due for release on 18th May.

Triple Treat From Three Superstars

The year 2001 may have begun on the wrong foot, but it might just turn out a smash year before it ends. Cinegoers everywhere are going to be treated to a triple Sundae by three of the most-doted stars of today viz. Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan. At least three films each of these three superstars are slated for the marquee in the current year. Amitabh Bachchan will first see his image in Aks, then follow it up with Ek Rishtaa – The Bond Of Love, and finally, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. If things go well, he might be able to squeeze in one more — All The Best. Well, all the best to that!

Shah Rukh Khan, of course, is expected to run up the numbers with his next week’s release, One 2 Ka 4. Then, he dons the additional mantle of a producer with his starrer Asoka which will hit the screens in May/June. Shah Rukh will end the year with — well, no guesses here — Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. Two more Shah Rukh starrers, Devdas and Hum Aapke Hain Sanam, are also in the running for release this year. The former may actually not make it while the latter is ridden with so many problems that — well, hum kuchh nahin keh sakte, sanam!

Hrithik Roshan’s first release this year will be Yaadein. While his fans might still be savouring the memories of the film, Hrithik will strike again with Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage. His final release, as with the other two superstars, will be Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. His Na Tum Jaano Na Hum is also progressing well, but is it likely to come this year? Na woh jaanta hai, na hum!

The Numbers Game

Subhash Ghai was to have released his Rahul, a non-star cast film, on 30th March but has now postponed it by a week so that it may not face the opposition of the Shah Rukh starrer, One 2 Ka 4. Ghai explained the postponement thus: “What is the sense in coming in direct opposition of a big star-cast film when the following week has no big release?” He further joked, “Bhai, hamari film toh one 2 ka 4 nahin hai, hamari toh four 2 ka 1 hai!” Incidentally, the title of the Shah Rukh Khan starrer has its genesis in the hit song of Subhash Ghai’s Ram Lakhan — One two ka four/Four two ka one/My name is Lakhan….

While on Rahul, produced and directed by Prakash Jha and presented by Ghai’s Mukta Arts Ltd., the latter is pretty much concerned about the release strategy its distributors would be adopting. “It is in films like Rahul that a distributor’s marketing and exploiting skills are at test,” said Ghai. He added, “This film cannot be exploited by releasing it in too many cinemas. It needs handling with kid gloves and a lot of care.”

One Day Ka 5!

That the industry is on the ropes due to the dearth of big releases with sustaining power, is by now common knowledge. What is, perhaps, lesser known is the fact that more and more distributors have now begun to think in terms of sharing the cinema with other distributors so that they don’t have to pay deficit to the cinema owner because of poor collections. As a result, even a main cinema in Bombay is forced to screen five different films every day for an entire week! Novelty cinema has the dubious distinction for doing so. This week’s programme at the cinema literally reads one day ka 5! The five films being screened at Novelty, Bombay are Mission Kashmir (matinee), Officer (3 p.m. shows), Kuch Khatti Kuch Meethi (6 p.m. shows), Vertical Limit (8.30 p.m. shows) and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (10.45 p.m. shows).

Thankfully, this one-day-ka-5 programme at the cinema ends next Friday (30th) as things return to normalcy with the release of One 2 Ka 4.

Cards That Killed The Cat

An invitation from T-Series last week simply said: ‘You have this date with us — April 7 — for a special occasion.’ Since there was no mention of what the occasion was, one spent a good part of the week trying to figure out what it could be. Now, there is a follow-up to last week’s invitation — a smaller one — which serves as ‘a reminder for April 7’. Again, there is not a clue in it about the occasion. The mystery, as they say, deepens. One must also admit that T-Series has got one stumped. Given that the D-Day is still a couple of weeks away, there just might be one or two more cards to follow! Thank God, we aren’t cats. For, as they say, curiosity killed the cat!

ANNOUNCEMENT & LAUNCHING

‘Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon’ Launched With Song Recording

Rajshri Productions P. Ltd.’s Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon was launched on March 10 (Holi) with a song recording at Spectral Harmony. The recording was completed on March 11. Penned by Dev Kohli and tuned by Anu Malik, the song was rendered by Sunidhi Chauhan.

Being produced by Kamal Kumar Barjatya, Rajkumar Barjatya and Ajit Kumar Barjatya and written and directed by Sooraj R. Barjatya, the film stars Hrithik Roshan, Kareena Kapoor, and Abhishek Bachchan in a friendly appearance. Regular shooting will commence in the last week of May.

Raj Kanwar To Introduce Arya Babbar

Producer-director Raj Kanwar has signed Arya Babbar, son of Nadira and Raj Babbar, to act in Inderjit Film Combines’ next. A new leading lady and other cast and credits are being finalised.

LATEST POSITION

The excellent collections of CHORI CHORI CHUPKE CHUPKE in Ahmedabad came as happy news about the revival of business in Gujarat after the earthquake.

Chori Chori Chupke Chupke dropped badly from 5th/6th day onwards almost everywhere except in Maharashtra, South and U.P. However, a sharp decline in collections was reported on 8th day in U.P. too. 1st week Bombay 76,40,383 (84.90%) from 16 cinemas (6 on F.H.); Ahmedabad 24,64,924 from 4 cinemas, Rajkot 3,37,230 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Jamnagar 1,53,144; Pune 16,13,779 from 6 cinemas (1 in matinee), Solapur 3,23,219 from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee), Satara 1,60,118 (92.30%) from 2 cinemas (1 in matinee); Hubli 2,84,287 (87.68%); Delhi 76,46,611 (68.08%) from 14 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Kanpur (6 days) 5,90,273 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 8,72,048 from 2 cinemas, Agra 5,50,000, Varanasi 3,00,163, Allahabad 2,41,000, Bareilly (3 days) 1,11,442; Calcutta 22,17,849 from 7 cinemas (other cinemas’ collections undisclosed); Nagpur 9,35,799 from 4 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 2,47,328, Amravati 3,01,058, Akola 2,88,500, Raipur (6 days, gross) 2,98,600, Durg 1,13,062, Jalgaon 2,87,347, Wardha 1,21,667, Chandrapur 2,13,020, Yavatmal (29 shows) 1,42,780 (79.87%); Indore 3,67,079 from 2 cinemas (2 on F.H.); Jaipur 9,63,637 (59.95%) from 3 cinemas, Ajmer (29 shows) 1,59,719, Bikaner (gross) 3,00,801; Hyderabad (gross) 43,82,303 from 14 cinemas (1 on F.H.). Total 3,46,29,170 from 97 cinemas.

Vatsyayana Kamasutra is generally dull. 1st week Bombay 6,78,948 (37.22%) from 4 cinemas (1 on F.H.); Pune 2,21,331 from 3 cinemas; Delhi 11,12,997 (29.38%) from 6 cinemas; Lucknow 1,28,473; Nagpur 67,229, Akola 58,441, Raipur (6 days) 30,494; Jaipur 1,46,650 (29.92%), Bikaner 77,239. Total 25,21,802 from 19 cinemas.

Kaun Banega Crorepati… Bhoot Banglay Ke Andar (dubbed) is poor. 1st week Bombay 1,96,125 (28.58%; 3 cinemas unrecd., 2 on F.H.); Jabalpur 15,978.

Pyar Ka Josh (dubbed) 1st week Lucknow 97,416; Jaipur 71,935 (20.01%). Dull.

Daku Bhairav Singh 1 week Bombay 28,760 (11.75%). Poor.

Pyar Ki Umang 1st week Bombay was dull.

Officer 2nd week Bombay 6,01,671 (44.63%) from 3 cinemas (3 cinemas unrecd., 5 on F.H.); Pune 4,78,378 from 3 cinemas, Solapur 90,114; 2nd week Delhi 2,76,472 from 3 cinemas (3 on F.H.); Kanpur 1,44,844 from 2 cinemas, Lucknow 1,58,457, Varanasi 1,35,509, Bareilly (6 days) 94,070; Calcutta 4,74,432 from 10 cinemas; Nagpur 71,606 from 2 cinemas, Jabalpur (6 days) 33,127, Amravati 65,352, Akola 47,962 (1st week 1,29,613), Raipur (6 days) 79,916, Jalgaon about 64,000, Yavatmal 28,389 (1st 88,851); Jaipur 61,212 (12.39%); 1st week Mangalore 1,87,852.

Mohabbatein 20th week Bombay 7,93,641 (50.24%) from 7 cinemas (4 on F.H.), total for 20 weeks 5,08,90,255; Ahmedabad 1,19,683 from 3 cinemas; Pune 66,237, Solapur (7 shows) 11,001; Delhi 2,50,299 from 2 cinemas; Kanpur 90,940 from 2 cinemas (1 on F.H.), Lucknow 2,25,694, Agra 91,000, 2nd week Varanasi (revived) 58,888, 20th week Allahabad 41,204; Nagpur 30,730, Amravati 48,413.

CINEMA OWNER DEAD

Vithal Shivaji Sonawane, proprietor of Mohan Chitra Mandir, Jalgaon expired on 5th March in Jalgaon. He was suffering from lung cancer. He was 64 and is survived by his wife, three sons and their families. The cinema remained closed for the day.

AMPTPP PRESSES FOR ABOLITION OF ST LEVY

The Association of Motion Pictures & TV Programme Producers (AMPTPP) has, in a letter dated 9th March, urged Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh to put an end to the raids conducted by sales-tax officials on the premises of music companies. It may be mentioned here that offices of several music companies, including HMV, Sony, Magnasound and Universal, were visited by the sales tax officials with search and seizure warrants last week. The tax officials also questioned the music companies with specific regard to tax due on copyright transactions in accordance with the levy of 4% sales tax on such transactions as per the state budget for the year 2000-2001.

AMPTPP points out in the letter that the action of the sales tax department has shocked the entertainment industry as it goes against the assurances given by the chief minister at a meeting last year with industry representatives to discuss removal of the new sales tax.

NIMBUS UNVEILS FILM PRODUCTION PLANS

Leading television content provider and a new entrant to film production, Nimbus Communications Ltd., will release its first film — Ek Hoti Vaadi (Marathi) — in May this year. The small-budget film, directed by Ajay Phansekar, stars Shivaji Satam, Reema, Dilip Kulkarni and Sheetal Kshirsagar. The release is part of Nimbus’ Phase I in film production during which it will invest Rs. 7.91 crore in a total of five feature films in Hindi, Marathi, Tamil and Kannada languages. The company intends to generate revenue of Rs. 28 crore in the year 2001-2002 from film business. Ek Hoti Vaadi will be followed by a medium-budget Tamil film, Sangeetham, being directed by Suresh Krissna. Other films at various stages of production and pre-production are: Sarhad Paar, directed by Raman Kumar and starring Sanjay Dutt and Tabu; Ram (Kannada), directed by Raam Shetty; and a big-budget romantic thriller, to be directed by Aziz Mirza.

Nimbus is also considering a couple of international co-productions, of which an Indo-French film in English, to be shot entirely in India, is at an advanced stage of finalisation.

SHASHI KAPOOR SELLS PROPERTY

Actor-filmmaker Shashi Kapoor recently sold the second floor of Prithvi House at Juhu, Bombay for Rs. 1.2 crore. The property owners are Shashi Kapoor’s Filmwallas and Prithviraj Memorial Trust.

‘Chori Chori Chupke Chupke’ The Flaw Chart

With the collections of Chori Chori Chupke Chupke falling faster than share prices do on the stock market, a number of theories are being propounded to explain why the super-hyped film failed to appeal to the public. A look at some of the plausible reasons:

* The film offers very little for the youth and the masses. Among the ladies audience, the response is divided — 50% like the film while the other 50% find the theme of surrogate motherhood too avant-garde for comfort.

* Abbas Mustan are specialists of thrillers and snazzy, stylish films. An out-and-out family drama isn’t their cup of tea. The script, with its glaring loopholes, bears testimony to their lack of expertise at handling such fares.

* The subject was so delicate and serious that whereas the screenplay writers should have taken extra care, the impression one gets is that the writing is the biggest stumbling block. At the end of the film, when Preity Zinta gets neither Salman Khan nor their baby, the audience feels, she has been wronged. The writers might argue that it was meant to be that way — the audience sympathy was supposed to go to Preity Zinta. But herein lies the catch. While it is all very proper that the audience sympathy must go to Preity, in so going, the audience also feels that Salman Khan and Rani Mukerji have ‘used’ Preity for their gain. When the film ends, the public gets up with the feeling that Salman and Rani have ‘cheated’ Preity. And we’re talking of Salman and Rani, who are the film’s hero and heroine.

* Yet another theory has it that there’s no build-up to Rani’s insistence that her husband, Salman, sire a child through another woman. There’s just one scene between her and her grandfather-in-law, Amrish Puri, which leads her to suggest the extreme and completely unusual step to her hubby.

* The writers’ and directors’ recourse to the easy way out of difficult situations is evident in the gode-bharai scene in which Preity Zinta poses as Salman’s wife. To hide her identity, she is shown sitting through the function in a ghunghat. But barring that scene, Salman’s family is shown as being very modern and progressive. Salman’s wife is shown wearing jeans and T-shirts too. Would such a family let the wife sit in a ghunghat all through the function, even while posing for photographs? Even if the obvious answer is ‘no’, the writers/directors did not cook up a plausible reason to justify this. And this ghunghat is very important because, but for it, the secret pact between Salman, Rani and Preity would have been exposed. Treating such an important link in the drama so carelessly or casually with, what is known as, recourse to cinematic liberties, doesn’t quite work when we talk of an enlightened audience and very important or sensitive scenes.

* There’s another theory which says that the audience expects the secret pact to be exposed in front of the family in the climax. In place of the expectation of a melodramatic climax, the audience gets a rather tame and convenient mini-climax.

The film, despite the above theories, has managed to do very well so far in good cinemas in Bombay, Maharashtra and U.P. However, a big drop was noticed in U.P. on the 8th day.

YOU ASKED IT

Why are no films sustaining at the box-office? Has the film industry come under an evil eye?

– Why blame it on an evil eye? If producers concentrate on making proposals instead of films with tight scripts, what do you expect?

When will the first copy of Aamir Khan’s Lagaan be out? Is the film’s release on 1st June a certainty?

– The first copy of LAGAAN should be out next month. Aamir Khan will soon proceed to Madras for the film’s background score to be recorded by A.R. Rahman. As for the release date, June 1 is definite. Its music will be released on 6th April. 

Why does someone not make a political thriller on the lines of Tehelka.com’s expose of the defence ministry?

– It will be too elitist a subject for a film even though, as news, it interests everyone. 

Calcutta Cinema Employees’ Strike: Chances Of Materialisation 50:50

With not even a week to go before the cinema employees of West Bengal strike work in about 750 cinemas, the atmosphere in Calcutta and other centres of the circuit is a bit tense. If no amicable settlement is arrived at between the agitating employees and the Union (BMPEU) on the one hand and cinema owners on the other, cinemas may remain closed from 23rd March.

The BMPEU, pressing for a number of demands, including pay revision, has so far adopted a rigid stand. At a meeting between the Union and representatives of cinema owners, held earlier this week in Calcutta, an offer of a monthly hike in employees’ remuneration of Rs. 100 was turned down by the BMPEU. It demanded an increment of Rs. 400 per employee.

The possibility of the strike being called off at the eleventh hour is not ruled out. It is rumoured that the employees do not have the financial strength to go on a strike and are only trying to extract the maximum from cinema owners.

The West Bengal government, busy as it is with the ensuing Assembly elections, has also not been able to control the situation so far.

Observations.com

That film trade journals and the film industry share a love-hate relationship is common knowledge. Also well-known is the fact that producers and distributors generally inflate box-office collections of their films when supplying figures to trade papers. It then becomes the duty of the trade papers to counter-check the figures with the cinemas and publish the actual figures as against the fake/inflated ones provided by interested parties. While a few trade papers do everything within their means to present the true picture, other less scrupulous ones take the easy way out and print the incorrect figures supplied to them by the producers/distributors.

Chori Chori Chupke Chupke is not the usual film. With a court receiver appointed to monitor its release as well as business, the distributors, obviously, would not be interested in fudging figures, least of all in giving inflated figures to trade papers. For, if they did give incorrect and increased collections and if the courts were to rely on these inflated figures, they’d have to account for monies they never collected!

Resultantly, in place of inflated figures, the distributors of CCCC would be more interested that the actual figures got published in trade papers. Unlike in normal circumstances, when the distributor instructs the cinemas to not reveal the actual collections (of course, with trade papers having their own sources in cinemas, the distributor’s instructions often go unheeded — but, all the same, it’s the same story every week!), in the case of Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, the distributor would beg of the cinema to reveal the genuine collections. Very often, the trade paper wallahs impersonate the distributor’s men while trying to extract the true collections from the cinemas. To circumvent this, some distributors have wisened up to giving code words to cinemas. Only if a person repeats the code word is he let into the secret figure (that is, actual collections).

In the case of Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, the code word has given way to the ‘court word’! “Hello, I’m speaking on behalf of the court receiver!” This one sentence was enough to send shivers down the spines of cinema-wallahs who otherwise insist on the code word before revealing the true box-office collections. Why, this actually happened when a suburban cinema of Bombay casually mentioned to us that the 12 noon show of CCCC on Monday (12th March) was house-full. Fake information this — but, old habits die hard. Next, we telephoned the very cinema, posing as the court receiver’s assistant. And lo and behold! the cinema manager jumped in his seat and was oh-so-ready to help with “whatever figures you want”! As it turned out, the noon show had registered Rs. 11,000 against a capacity of Rs. 20,000 and odd. So much for the house-full collections!

There’s a joke doing the rounds of the industry. As against the congratulatory advertisements customarily issued by the various territorial distributors at the end of the first week in trade papers, the scenario in the case of CCCC will be just the reverse.

A typical congratulatory advertisement reads: “Congratulations XYZ (producer, artistes of the film etc.) on the grand success of ABC (name of film). We are confident of giving you overflow in the months to come. May our association remain lucky for all times to come.”

However, a typical advertisement of CCCC, goes the joke, would be issued by the distributors of the film and would read something like this: “Congratulations producer Nazim Rizvi on the AVERAGE BUSINESS of Chori Chori Chupke Chupke. We are confident, we will NOT pay you overflow. May our association NEVER extend to future films”!

– Komal Nahta

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

The Eternal Flop

Everyone knows what a damp squib Jackie Shroff’s Grahan has turned out to be. The long-in-the-making film, released a few weeks back, barely managed to run for as many days as the years it took to come to the screen. But guess what? Twenty-five years ago, the scene was no different. Another Grahan, made then with Nutan and Subhash Ghai in the lead, found itself eclipsed by poor collections. In fact, the Latest Position column in Film Information‘s issue corresponding to this week in 1976, has this to say: ‘Grahan could hardly cover the theatre hire in Bangalore’.

Now, what’s it they say about history repeating itself?

Whither Prints

Looks like the Bangladeshis are in love with our films. But that still is no excuse for what they have done — or rather, not done, so to speak. Way back in January, the film festival authorities in Bangladesh invited Hindi films for inclusion in the fete held in Dhaka. Our producers responded enthusiastically to the invitation sent by the neighbouring country. Soon, prints of 5-6 films, including Taal and Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai, were despatched to Dhaka. Little did the producers realise then that that could be the last they would see of those prints. For, over two months have passed since the films have been screened at the festival but the producers are yet to get their prints back. No amount of pleading with the Bangladeshi authorities has helped. Even the Film Federation of India (FFI) doesn’t seem interested in taking up the matter with the Bangladeshi authorities. Wonder, what the poor producers can do — besides cursing their fates, that is!

Kahani (Tera) Ghar (Mera) Ghar Ki

Director S. Priyadarsan, whose song picturisations are always very colourful and visually appealing, has made all his five songs in Ripples Picture Entertainment’s Yeh Tera Ghar Yeh Mera Ghar different from each other. The title song has been picturised on Sunil Shetty and Mahima Chaudhry on 20 different locations. A Govinda aala re song, showing street urchins breaking the dahi ki matki, was filmed in Hyderabad on Sunil, Mahima and Naghma (special appearance), besides 100 dancers and a crowd of 500 people. About 150 experts in matki-breaking were flown to Hyderabad from Bombay to partake in the song picturisation which needed them to form human pyramids, 100 feet high! There’s a romantic song which Priyadarsan has picturised on Mahima Chaudhry and — hold your breath! — Paresh Rawal. Another romantic duet was picturised on Sunil and Mahima on five sprawling sets including one of huge sail boats in a specially created pool depicting the sea. The fifth song, rendered by Shaan and Kay Kay, featured Sunil Shetty and Sanjay Narvekar, besides 15 gora dancers flown in from London, and model-actress Anupama Verma. This song was picturised on five sets erected at AVM and Vijaya Vauhini Studios in Madras.

Hrithik’s Holi Followed By Navratri

Guess, what Hrithik Roshan did on Holi? Not much, apparently. With wife Sussanne and a few friends in tow, Hrithik zipped off to Madh Island (in Bombay) to celebrate a quiet festival of colours, away from fans and the film industry. Now guess, what he did the next day? Celebrated Navratri!

Actually, Hrithik is participating in a 17-day shooting schedule at Mehboob Studios, of Mohan Kumar’s Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage, part of which is picturisation of a Navratri song. Penned by Dev Kohli and composed by Rajesh Roshan, the song goes: Ori gori chaloji chori chori, piya ke milan rut aayee re. Sung by Udit Narayan and Pamela, it is an item song in the film. The eight-minute song, picturised on Hrithik Roshan and Amisha Patel, involves several costume changes as it is spread over all nine nights of Dandiya Raas. Hrithik’s costumes are, as usual, designed by Rocky S. And Raju Khan is entrusted with the choreography. Producer Gautam Kumar is confident that the song will be a major highlight in the film. He also informs, “The current schedule involves shooting of a major portion of the first half of the film. The way things are going, we are certain to complete the film in time for a Diwali 2001 release.”

This means, it will be Hrithik’s second release this year, after Subhash Ghai’s Yaadein which will open all over on 27th July. His third and last release in 2001 would be Karan Johar’s Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, slated for a 14th December opening.

Titles To Match

Supposing one was asked to give film titles to the heroes and villains of the country in recent times, here’s how they’d read:

Bangaru Laxman: Khiladi 420.

V.V.S. Laxman: Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi.

George Fernandes: Main Azaad Hoon.

V.V.S. Laxman and Rahul Dravid: Jodi No. 1.

Indian cricket team: Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar.

Major Gen. M.S. Ahluwalia: Sharaabi.

Defence ministry: Hindustan Ki Kasam.

Mamata Banerjee: Nagin Ka Intaqam.

Tehelka.com: Mission: Impossible-2.

Atal Behari Vajpayee: Ek Bechara.

Jaya Jaitley: Paise Ki Gudia.

Jayalalitha, Mamata Banerjee, Mayawati, Uma Bharti: Manchali Ladkiyan.

CHORI CHORI CHUPKE CHUPKE

Emaar Films International’s Chori Chori Chupke Chupke is about surrogate motherhood. An affluent, young and handsome boy agrees to get married on being forced by his loving grandfather because he (the latter) pines for a great-grandchild. The grandfather’s dream is about to be realised but destiny intervenes in the form of an accident which kills the to-be-born child. There’s a greater shock in store for the couple when they are informed that the damage is so acute that the lady will never be able to conceive in future.

Looking to her grandfather-in-law’s yearning for a great-grandson, the lady asks her husband to sire a child through a borrowed womb and to keep this fact a lifelong secret between himself, herself and the surrogate mother-to-be. The husband, who adores his wife, agrees only very reluctantly. He hires a prostitute to sire a child and trains her to become presentable in society before he, his wife and the prostitute fly off to a foreign destination. Once there, the hired lady gets pregnant. The family in India is told that it is the guy’s wife who is pregnant. Needless to add, the family is ecstatic with joy.

Here, the hired lady slowly but surely falls in love with her master. As the date of delivery approaches, the bitter truth stares her in the face — that after some days, she’d de left with neither her child nor the man who has fathered it and whom she is now madly in love with. Overtaken by her emotions of jealously mixed with sorrow, she makes it known to the couple that she would not part with the child after its birth. Ultimately, of course, she keeps her word and hands over the new-born to the couple.

The film, inspired by Doosri Dulhan and Bewaffa Se Waffa, has an unusual story and has been stuffed with all commercial ingredients like emotions, comedy, drama, music, fantastic locations etc. It also has shades of the English film, Pretty Woman.

The first half abounds in light moments and also some heartwarming scenes. After interval, there are more of emotional sequences which draw tears. However, Neeraj Vora’s story and Shyam Goel’s screenplay do leave something to be desired. For one, the romantic track of the other woman, even though only in her imagination, looks a little ingenuine because of two reasons — one, she knows that she is contracted for the specific job of producing a child; and two, the guy never reciprocates her advances although he cares for her completely. Had he been shown, even in a single scene, to have reciprocated her advances, it would have made the other woman’s entire romantic story more plausible. The other woman sitting in the god-bharai scene in a ghunghat to hide her identity looks too contrived and seems to be incorporated only to further the story. For, the family has already been established to be so very modern and liberal in its lifestyle that the ghunghat appears completely out of place. Cinematic liberties like the above are not few. Resultantly, the goings-on look somewhat (though not totally) unnatural.

The climax is hurried and too simplistic and convenient. Just one request by the wife to the doctor — to save the other woman’s life even if it meant sacrificing the life of the child-to-be-born — is enough to change the attitude of the other woman. A far more tearful and dramatic climax was needed.

On the plus side are some heart-rending emotions and hilarious comedy. On the negative side is the absence of great music. Although Anu Malik’s score comprises some melodious songs (the title song, Dil tera mera dil number, the Punjabi song), lack of a hit score is sorely felt. The Mehndi song is lyrically very rich. The other woman’s club dance song is racy but a musically stronger number would’ve made a world of a difference. Another minus factor could be the concept of sharing one’s husband with another woman, which may not go down too well with the more traditional ladies. (Similar angles of willingly sharing one’s husband with another woman have been rejected in films like Doosri Dulhan, Bewaffa Se Waffa and Pati Parmeshwar.)

Salman Khan does a very fine job and gives a restrained and sober performance, never once going overboard. But it must be said that Salman’s fans expect him to be bubbly if not boisterous and fun-loving rather than serious. To that extent, they will feel a bit let down. Rani Mukerji excels in the first half but does not give her best shot in the pre-climax and climax. Preity Zinta delivers a performance that’s fantastic. Whether as a prostitute, an expectant mother or a romanticist, she is absolutely brilliant. Amrish Puri is terrific as the loving grandfather. Johny Lever evokes a lot of laughter and should have been given more scope. Prem Chopra does an able job. Farida Jalal is effective. Adi Irani leaves a mark. Dipti Bhatnagar is good in a song-dance. Ruby Bhatia, Sheela David, Dalip Tahhil, Amrit Patel, Manmaujee, Dinyar Contractor, Col. Kapoor, Ghanshyam, Charlie and Bhairavi Vidya are perfect in supporting roles. Razzak Khan has been hopelessly wasted.

Abbas Mustan have handled a ladies-appealing subject efficiently, but their simplistic approach to the complex story reduces the overall impact. So sensitive is the subject that it needed much better writing and narrative skills to extract its fullest potential. Otherwise, the director-duo’s shot compositions and takings are sleek and stylish. Thomas A. Xavier’s camerawork complements the extraordinary locales. Editing needed to be sharper. Dialogues (Javed Siddiqi) are masterly. Choreography should have been better; the song picturisations are too ‘classy’ in nature. Sets (R. Varman) are rich and stylish.

On the whole, Chori Chori Chupke Chupke has appeal for ladies but not much for masses and children. It will meet with a mixed response. The film will do good business in big centres but not as good in smaller centres. It will fare the best in Bombay and South. Business in U.P., East Punjab, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh (C.P. Berar and C.I.) and Rajasthan will be average to good-average.

Released on 9-3-2001 at Eros, Minerva and 20 other cinemas of Bombay thru V.I.P. Enterprises. Publicity & opening: excellent. …….Also released all over. Opening was superb in Nizam and Mysore but less in other circuits due to pre-Holi, fear of tension in cinemas and delayed release.

KANPUR CINEMA REOPENS

Nigar cinema of Kanpur reopened on 9th March with Chori Chori Chupke Chupke. The cinema has been rechristened Movie House. Heavy renovation work was carried out at the cinema. It is now air-conditioned, with a generator set. The newly-opened cinema now has new furniture.

SPECIAL SHOW FOR POLICE

The top brass of the Bombay police, together with officials of the crime branch, viewed the controversial Chori Chori Chupke Chupke at a special screening at Bombay’s Eros preview theatre on 7th March. The 6 p.m. screening was organised by the director duo Abbas-Mustan, and Santosh Singh Jain who is the court receiver appointed in the matter of the release of the film. Earlier, speaking about the special screening, Santosh Singh Jain said, “We had promised to hold a special show for the police earlier. And we are only fulfilling that promise.”

ONE TOO MANY!

As of new, there is not just one, but two, rather three different release dates of One 2 Ka 4! The uncertainty over the film’s release date stems from disagreement on the issue between its producer and distributors. While the producer insists that the film will hit the screens on 30th March, some distributors say, it is not likely to come on 30th. Some opine that the film will be released on 6th April while some others are putting the release date as 13th April.

If the release of One 2 Ka 4 is postponed to April, it will put the releases of other big films in disarray. At least two big films are slated to open in April. David Dhawan’s Jodi No. 1 is due on 13th April. It will be followed the week after by Tips’ Albela. In such a scenario, there wouldn’t be enough breathing space for either of the films.

Given the present paucity of big releases, it would have been better for at least one of the aforesaid three films to make it to the cinemas on 23rd March or latest, on 30th March. Three biggies coming so close to one another may prove disastrous for the trade. Hopefully, better sense will prevail.

COUNTDOWN TO CINEMA CLOSURE IN WEST BENGAL BEGINS

About 100 cinemas in Calcutta and 650 others in different districts of West Bengal are expected to remain closed from 23rd March in view of the call for an indefinite strike, given by the Bengal Motion Pictures Employees Union (BMPEU). The Union is pressing for a number of things. Its 20-point charter of demands includes pay revision. 

FICCI TO ORGANISE ‘FRAMES 2001’

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry will hold its annual convention, FRAMES – Films, Radio, Audio-Visual, Music, Events & Shows, this year on 30th and 31st March at the Regent Hotel in Bombay. FRAMES 2001 will be attended by Union I & B minister Sushma Swaraj, among others.

CINEMA LICENCE CANCELLED

The collector of Jamnagar has cancelled the licence of Amber Talkies, Jamnagar, due to non-payment of entertainment tax amounting to Rs. 5,56,977. The licence has been cancelled for fifteen days from 2nd March.

Earlier, the cinema owners had managed to get a stay order against the order of suspension of licence. But when the owners failed to pay the tax within 15 days, the conditions of the stay order applied.

DONATIONS OF MUZAFFARNAGAR EXHIBITORS FOR GUJARAT QUAKE RELIEF

Eminent exhibitor M.P. Agarwal, president of the District Exhibitors Association, Muzaffarnagar, and vice president of the Uttaranchal Films Chamber of Commerce, handed over a draft of Rs. 52,000 to U.P. minister Hukam Singh for the Gujarat Relief Fund, on behalf of the Muzaffarnagar district exhibitors at a function held at Shamli (district Muzaffarnagar).

Kamal Cinema, Muzaffarnagar separately donated its entire collections of one week to the Fund.

IDBI READY WITH FILM FINANCE SCHEME

The Industrial Development Bank of India has finalised a scheme to finance feature films. The scheme has been sent for approval to the Reserve Bank of India, the Union I & B ministry and the bank’s department for committees. It is expected to be formally approved by the IDBI board in a meeting on 16th March.

Under the scheme, the borrower would have to be a corporate entity promoted by producers with proven track records. While 50% of the estimated budget would be financed by the bank, the promoter would have to invest 30%. The interest on the loan will be charged at the prevailing rate. As security for the loan, the producer would have to assign to the bank all agreements, intellectual property rights and a trust.

IDBI intends to finance at least a couple of Hindi films during the current financial year. It hopes to extend the scheme to regional films later.

MITTAL, OTHERS DENY LEAVING B4U

Field Fisher Waterhouse, London, acting on behalf of B4U, has clarified that the three promoters of the B4U group, viz. L.M. Mittal, Kishore Lulla and Gokul Binani, “remain committed to B4U and none of the three has withdrawn or terminated his relationship with the B4U group”.

The clarification comes in the wake of widespread speculation and media reports that L.M. Mittal had withdrawn his support to B4U following the arrest of Bharat Shah in the Chori Chori Chupke Chupke case. Bharat Shah is a major shareholder in B4U.

BABY BOY

Actor-producer-singer Pankaj Goswami’s wife delivered a baby boy recently.

PREMPRAKASH CINEMA OF JAIPUR IS NOW ‘THE GOLCHA’

Premprakash cinema of Jaipur was rechristened The Golcha on 8th March amidst fanfare. The new name was formally given to the 53-year-old cinema, owned by the Golchas, by Rajasthan finance minister Pradyuman Singh. Ministers Bina Kak and Shanti Dhariwal as also celebrated painter M.F. Husain were present at the function which was largely attended.

The cinema has been extensively renovated and is now one of the poshest cinemas of the pink city. Chori Chori Chupke Chupke was screened after the renaming function.

‘CCCC’ CASE:
CHARGESHEET FILED
SHAH, RIZVI ACCUSED OF EXTORTION,
ATTEMPT TO MURDER

Even as Chori Chori Chupke Chupke released finally on 9th March, the crime branch of the Bombay police filed chargesheets against its financier, Bharat Shah, producer Nazim Rizvi and his assistant, Abdul Rahim Allah Baksh. While charges against Shah include extortion, abetting and conniving with the activities of the underworld, and conspiracy, Rizvi and Allah Baksh are charged with attempting to murder Rakesh Roshan last year.

The 1,156-page chargesheet, filed after 87 days of Rizvi’s arrest, contains statements of 90 witnesses, including Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Mansoor Siddiqui, Mahesh Manjrekar, Abbas, Mustan, Preity Zinta and Rani Mukerji. The charges framed are under IPC sections 120-B (conspiracy), 302 (murder) read with 115 (abetment) and 387 (extortion), besides sections 3 and 4 of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act. If convicted under the MCOCA, the accused will face a minimum imprisonment of five years and a fine of Rs. 1 lakh.

Following filing of the chargesheet, Shah’s lawyers urged the court to examine the documents in the case. It was claimed by Shah’s lawyers that Rizvi had filed an application stating that the police had used third degree methods to extract his confession and that he had been made to sign blank papers. The counsel for Rizvi, however, denied filing of any such application by his client. He also informed the court that Rizvi had retracted his confession in a letter sent to the registrar of prisons.

‘Mohabbatein’: Triumph Of One Man’s
Conviction Over An Entire Industry’s Anxiety

Aditya Chopra’s Mohabbatein, now in its 20th week, stands testimony to the conviction of one director against the anxieties of the entire trade — well, almost — which thought that it was suicidal to release a 3½-hour-long film and in 3 shows instead of the daily 4 shows. In almost all the territories, Mohabbatein has surpassed the business of Yash Chopra’s DTPH. In some circuits, Aditya’s new film is approaching the business of his first blockbuster, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. One must note that while DTPH and DDLJ were screened in daily 4 shows, Mohabbatein has been screened in daily 3 shows, with cinemas having charged rentals for 4 shows!

The following facts have emerged from the various territories:

In Bombay, Mohabbatein has in 18 weeks crossed the 3 years’ business of DTPH.

In East Punjab, in centres like Ludhiana and Jalandhar, it has surpassed the shares of DDLJ.

The Eastern circuit may be the first to report that Mohabbatein has crossed the business of DDLJ. At Metro, Calcutta, the first 10 weeks’ gross of DTPH was Rs. 37.05 lakh while the corresponding gross of Mohabbatein is Rs. 55.20 lakh. Bihar is much like West Bengal.

Nagpur, Chandrapur, Amravati, Dhule and other centres in C.P. Berar are recording such collections that Mohabbatein has already surpassed DTPH in C.P. Berar and may ultimately even cross DDLJ!

Like in C.P. Berar, the business of Mohabbatein in Rajasthan is more than that of DTPH.

At Maheshwari cinema of Hyderabad (Nzam), the share of DDLJ in the first 10 weeks was Rs. 17.44 lakh, of DTPH was Rs. 23.30 lakh, and of Mohabbatein is Rs. 28 lakh!.

Mohabbatein recorded the largest initial in the history of Indian films in the first 2 weeks in Overseas. This, in the face of DVD piracy!

Fifty lakh units of Mohabbatein music have been sold in the first five months and the figure is expected to grow to 60 lakh by the month-end. Perhaps, the fastest audio sale ever!

‘Chori Chori Chupke Chupke’ Finally Sees The Light Of The Day
Disturbances Affect Release, Opening At Places

Arrested producer Nazim Rizvi’s Chori Chori Chupke Chupke opened all over the world on 9th March. Although the release was uneventful in most parts of India, there were incidents of the Bajrang Dal and other political parties disrupting shows of the film at some places. There was heavy police bandobast and tight security in several cinemas in different parts. The political parties had declared that they would not permit the film to be screened in view of the alleged nexus of its producer and presenter, Bharat Shah, with the underworld. It is because of this alleged nexus that both, Bharat Shah and Nazim Rizvi, were arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) and are still in judicial custody.

The special court had appointed Santosh Singh Jain as the court receiver for the purpose of ensuring the film’s release. While Jain managed to clear all maters splendidly and effected deliveries to all the distributors in time, there were minor glitches in the delivery to the Bombay distributors, V.I.P. Enterprises, a firm owned by Bharat Shah. The delivery to V.I.P. was finally effected on Thursday night.

Screening of the film was disrupted in Thane district, Ahmedabad and Vapi in Bombay circuit. While the film could open at Dombivli (Thane district) only in the 6 p.m. show, it was not allowed to open at all at Malhar, Thane. In C.I., Ujjain’s Nirmalsagar and Sunderam cinemas bore the brunt of the agitation by the Bharatiya Jana Yuva Morcha and the Bajrang Dal which did not allow the film to open in the 12 noon show on 9th. The political parties had on 7th March also created disturbances at Sunderam cinema. The film opened in the 3 p.m. show at both the cinemas.

In Ahmedabad, the police is reported to have ‘advised’ some cinemas to refrain from releasing the film in view of the threats from some political parties!

The opening of CCCC was excellent in Bombay, Nizam and Mysore. In other circuits, it was adversely affected because of pre-Holi and fear of untoward incidents, in the minds of cinegoers.

YOU ASKED IT

Does releasing a film on an odd day (other than Friday or Thursday) make a difference to its opening?

– It may be counter-productive to a good opening because the audience is not used to an odd-day opening. Still, if there’s a bumper holiday advantage, it would be worth releasing a film on an odd day.

I am planning to buy a film which is ready for release. Since there have been no major releases which have done well of late, exhibitors are offering me very good terms. Is it worth paying a few lakhs more for the distribution rights because of fancy terms from exhibitors?

– That would definitely be an advantage to you in your recovery. But this, only if the film proves successful. In case it flops, the advantage would be very marginal.

Why did this week’s release, Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, not take an absolutely flying start despite so much hype and controversy surrounding it?

– The benefit due to the controversy and hype surrounding the film was, to a large extent, offset by the disadvantage of a delayed release. Besides, the absence of a bumper opening was due to pre-Holi release and the fear of trouble at cinemas screening the film, as threatened by a couple of political parties. This fear mostly kept ladies away from the cinemas.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Shankar — The Real Showman

One has heard of two- and four-camera set-ups. But ever heard of a 30-camera set-up? That’s going to be the scene on Sunday (11th March) in Madras on the sets of Shankar’s Nayak – The Real Hero. For an elaborate and exciting action scene, to be picturised on Anil Kapoor, Shankar will employ as many as 30 cameras! It is because of such a large requirement of cameras that the celebrated filmmaker took special permission to shoot his film on a second Sunday which is otherwise a no-shooting day.

It’s All In The Genes

Late Uttam Kumar, thespian of Bengali cinema, was the highest-paid actor of his times. Yet, he always felt that a film star’s life was invariably ridden with insecurities. It was this belief that prompted him to forbid his son, Goutam, from pursuing a career in films. He is said to have literally forced Goutam, who was otherwise keen to take after his dad, to make a career in medicine. When the great actor failed to generate his son’s interest in medical studies, he opened a medical store for the son! Today, thirty years hence, Goutam is still in the same business and is still not even remotely connected with films.

But the acting genes seem to have been transferred to the next generation too. For, both of Uttam Kumar’s grandchildren from Goutam, Nabodita and Gourab, have plunged into the acting arena. While Nabodita has already appeared in some stage-plays and is awaiting the right break to switch to films. Gourab is said to be considering a couple of offers. What if someone were to sign him to play the lead opposite either Riya or Raima Sen, who are the grand-daughters of one of the most popular leading ladies ever of Bengali screen, Suchitra Sen? That would surely be a casting coup. At least for Bengali films.

Double Trouble

In a case of real life following reel life (Seeta Aur Geeta), it was reported last week that Shikha, sister of Southern film actress Sakshi Shivanand, has been standing in for the latter for her shooting whenever there was a date hassle. The reports first surfaced when Yogeswar, hero of Kannada film Sainika, spilled the beans about how Shikha had, on occasions, donned make-up and participated in the film’s shooting in place of Sakshi who was the actual heroine of the film. The mystery deepened when there was no denial forthcoming from the sisters. Meanwhile, a few filmmakers, who had worked with Sakshi before, corroborated Yogeswar’s story.

The Sakshi-Shikha revelation took the Kannada film industry by surprise, drawing as it did a parallel from a similar case of actress-sisters Pramodini and Prashantini. The look-alike twins had on record admitted that they had often worked in each other’s place whenever either of the two had a date problem.

Had Sakshi and Shikha also taken a leaf out of Pramodini and Prashantini’s book then? Not quite. The truth was finally revealed days later when Sakshi’s mother flatly denied Yogeswar’s and others’ claims, saying, it was not possible for the situation to arise since both, Sakshi and Shikha, looked completely unlike each other. She further informed that at 5′ 7″, Sakshi was a full three inches taller than her sister.

No prizes for guessing, that ended the double trouble.

Title Tattle

Khaya Piya Kuch Nahin Glass Toda Bara Aana…. No, we are not commenting on the box-office outcome of most of the recent big releases. Khaya Piya… is actually a title for a TV serial, registered with the AMPTPP. The list of film and TV serial titles registered with the AMPTPP always makes for hilarious reading. Here’s the customary look:

Perhaps, the two senior citizens in these two films could trade places with each other: Joroo Jawan To Buddha Pareshan and Buddhe Ko Chadhi Jawani! Everyone’s heard of Insaaf Ka Tarazu, but have you heard of Tarazu Ka Insaaf?! The British may have had their pop sensation, Spice Girls, but we have a bigger sensation in Punch The Indian Spice Girls! Can’t think of an original title for your film? Worry not! Just pick up a title of an old hit or the mukhda of an evergreen hit song and change a word here or there. Here’s how: Saheb Biwi Aur Saali or, perhaps, Padosiyon Se Na Ankhiyan Milana!

And the award for the ‘best’ film title registered with the AMPTPP goes to (and this one needs absolutely no comment) Rose Mary Marlo!!!

OFFICER

F.A. Films’ Officer (A) is a crime-suspense thriller. A brave and honest police officer takes up an assignment to look after a pretty young lady married to a much older multi-millionaire. The married lady and the officer come close to each other and fall in love with one another. When the police officer declines the lady’s marriage proposal, she commits suicide. Later, the officer, on a holiday in his home town, is shocked to meet a club dancer who looks exactly like the lady who had committed suicide. With her help, he unearths a criminal conspiracy of which he had been made a part.

The film opens with fast-paced action and soon thereafter turns into a romantic drama of a bachelor boy and a married woman. But actually, there was no need to interweave the romantic angle with the suspense angle. The woman’s suicide gives a new twist to the story before interval. The suspense thereafter could have kept the tension mounting, but too many tracks in the story spoil the fun and dilute its impact. Further, when the suspense is actually revealed, it doesn’t shock the viewer if only because the build-up of the drama was not taut as it should be in films of this genre. The track of the hero’s phobia of heights looks contrived. The villains’ track is also not related to the main story. The heroine’s stance in the first half is not clear as her need for money has not been spelt out at all. The second half is lengthy. Dialogues are reasonably good.

Sunil Shetty does a fine job. He is very good, both, in action and romantic scenes. Raveena Tandon does justice to her role. Sadashiv Amarapurkar entertains to an extent only. Danny Denzongpa is fair. Shahbaaz Khan, Shehzad Khan, Tej Sapru, Pramod Moutho, Yusuf Khurram, Vishwajeet Pradhan, Babloo Mukherjee, Siraj Khan and the others lend good support.

Naeem Sha’s scripting is only slightly better than his ordinary narration. The finesse of a suspense drama is missing. The film does not really succeed in keeping the audience engrossed all through. The post-interval portion needed to be much faster. The scenes depicting the gunning down of the police commissioner and his staff look unnecessary.

Music is average; Phoolon se rang is quite a good number. Lyrics of the songs are fair and picturisations of at least two of them (Zindagi and Kaisa sama kaisa safar) are appealing. Action scenes have been composed very well. Cinematography is good. Technical aspects are of standard.

On the whole, Officer is an average fare but its ordinary-to-dull opening will make its journey tough. Business in small centres, especially in Maharashtra, will be better.

Released on 2-3-2001 at Novelty at 17 other cinemas of Bombay thru S.P. Enterprises. Publicity: dull. Opening: so-so. …….Also released all over. Opening was good in Bikaner.

ADMISSION RATES CUT TO COMBAT THIN ATTENDANCE

Admission rates in three cinemas of Jalgaon have been brought down to combat low attendance. Rajkamal Talkies has reduced its balcony and first class rates by a third — from Rs. 30 and Rs. 15 respectively to Rs. 20 and Rs. 10. The capacity per show is now Rs. 6,070.40 and for 28 shows, it is Rs. 1,69,971.40.

The new rates at Natraj Talkies are Rs. 25 for balcony (old rate Rs. 30) and Rs. 12 for first class (old rate Rs. 15). The new capacity per show is Rs. 7,866.40 and for 28 shows, it is Rs. 2,20,259.20.

The balcony rate at Natwar Talkies is down by Rs. 10, to Rs. 30. The reduction in the first class rate is Rs. 5 from the old Rs. 20. The capacity per show is now Rs. 9,357.40 and for 28 shows, is Rs. 2,62,007.20.

SUNIL SHETTY’S EFFORTS YIELD RS. 1.50 CRORE FOR QUAKE VICTIMS

Sunil Shetty’s fund-raising cricket match between Hindi film and cricket stars and the visiting Australian cricket team, to collect funds for the Gujarat quake victims, was held on February 25 at the CCI Grounds, Bombay. The match, called ‘Raymond Heroes For Hope’, was organised by ‘Save The Children, India’, chaired by Anita Goyal. Sunil Shetty is one of its ambassadors along with Ustad Zakir Hussain and Jagjit Singh while Raj Singh Dungarpur is the chief patron. The main aim of ‘Save The Children, India’ is focussed on a special care unit for disabled children and study centres for the under-privileged.

The cricketing event was managed by Sunil Shetty’s Popcorn Ripples. Among those who attended were Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, deputy CM Chhagan Bhujbal, minister Manikrao Thackeray, Amitabh Bachchan, Shatrughan Sinha and AMPTPP president Pahlaj Nihalani.

Among those from the film industry who participated in the cricket matches were Aamir Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Jackie Shroff, Akshay Kumar, Aishwarya Rai, Raveena Tandon, Urmila Matondkar, Sharad Kapoor, Mahima Chaudhry, Aditya Pancholi, Aftab Shivdasani, Shekhar Suman, Javed Jaffri, Namrata Shirodkar, Munish Kohli, Johny Lever, Asrani, Anupam Kher, Raakhi Tandon, Sanjay Suri, Yukta Mookhey, Rohit Roy, Diya Mirza, David Dhawan, S. Priyadarshan, Mahesh Manjrekar, Rajesh Bhatia, Vikram Razdan, Morani Brothers, Ajit Dewani and Mazhar Nadiadwala.

The matches were played in two semi-finals of 10 overs each, with the final match played between the NECC and the Dodsal teams. Aamir Khan led the NECC team to victory.

The event was compered by Javed Jaffri. Shekhar Suman also shared the dais. Asrani and Johny Lever were the commentators. Salman Khan danced to the tune of O oh jaane jaana. Singer Usha Uthup and Shaan gave live performances.

The show yielded an amount of Rs. 1 crore. Additionally, Rs. 50 lakh were collected through a special auction of memorabilia, collected from various cricketers. A bat, autographed by the Indian and the Australian teams, was auctioned for Rs. 12.5 lakh. A Fiat Siena car with autographs of all the celebrities present, was auctioned for Rs. 26 lakh.

CHARGES AGAINST 16 IN UPHAAR CINEMA CASE

A Delhi court on 27th February ordered framing of charges against the 16 persons accused in the Uphaar cinema (Delhi) fire tragedy. The fire claimed 59 lives besides injuring many others and damaging the cinema. Among the accused are the cinema’s owners, Sushil Ansal and Gopal Ansal. The fire occurred in June ’97, the day Border was released.

SURINDER KAPOOR ELECTED AIFPC CHIEF

Surinder Kapoor was unanimously elected president of the All India Film Producers Council at the first meeting of its newly-elected executive committee, held on 28th February. Other office-bearers elected in the meeting, held soon after the 22nd annual general meeting, were Pahlaj Nihalani – vice president, and Ramesh Taurani and Yash Chopra – honorary treasurers.

AWARD FOR STUDIO LINK

Film publicity designers Studio Link recently bagged the silver award at the first ever ‘The best of the world’s biggest calendar show’ in Germany. The award was given for Studio Link’s calendar, ‘The Journey of Life’, about Vedic philosophy. Atmanand and Vivek of Studio Link received the award at a function at the Y.B. Chavan Centre in Bombay on 19th February.

SANTOSH SINGH JAIN HONOURED BY IOMC

The advisory board and managing committee of the Indian Organisation of Mass Communication on 23rd February unanimously decided to induct Central Circuit Cine Association president Santosh Singh Jain as IOMC’s chief patron. The six-year-old organisation’s activities include holding seminars, workshops, debates and cultural events.

BRMC TO HONOUR WAHEEDA, MANNA DEY

Actress Waheeda Rahman, singers Manna Dey and Mubarak Begum, film journalist B.K. Karanjia and filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh will be felicitated at this year’s Smruti Sandhya, for their extraordinary contributions to Indian cinema. The annual event, organised by the Bimal Roy Memorial Committee, will be held on 10th and 11th March in Bombay.

BHARAT SHAH REMANDED TO JUDICIAL CUSTODY TILL MARCH 9

Financier Bharat Shah was on 1st March remanded to judicial custody by the special court till March 9 on which date the police is likely to file a chargesheet. Shah was arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) on 8th January for his alleged links with the underworld in the financing of Chori Chori Chupke Chupke. The film’s producer, Nazim Rizvi, was arrested before Bharatbhai and he too has since been remanded to judicial custody.

Director Mahesh Manjrekar and producer Sanjay Gupta were earlier during the week called in for questioning by the crime branch in the Bharat Shah case. Before that, Salman Khan, Rani Mukerji and Shah Rukh Khan were also interrogated by the police. According to press reports, producer and Overseas distributor Bobby Anand is yet to appear before the crime branch for questioning.

Shah Rukh Khan was interrogated on Sunday (25th February) by the assistant commissioner of police, Shankar Kamble, at the crime branch’s Crawford Market headquarters.

Affirming the news, Shah Rukh Khan told Information, “It was just a routine enquiry. They wanted my statement because of the fact that my name was mentioned in the conversation that they had recorded.

“There were two references to me. So they wanted a specific comment from me after I had heard the tape. I told them, I didn’t want to hear the taped conversation. Basically, they wanted to know whether I had received any threatening calls. But during the period in which I was mentioned in the telephonic conversation, I had indeed received no threatening calls. Whenever I have received threatening calls in the last four years, I have always kept them in the loop.

“They wanted my statement on the same, as without it, they said, their interrogation would be incomplete. Aapka interrogation to khaana-purti hai (it is just a formality), they told me.

“For my convenience, they asked me to go over to the Hill Road office for the statement. But since it was a Sunday, the office was closed. So they called me back and said, I had to go to the Crawford Market branch. In fact, they suggested that I could do this on Monday.

“But since I was headed towards town, to congratulate Juhi and Jai Mehta on the arrival of their newborn baby, I said, I would go over on Sunday itself. I wished the new parents and went over to the police headquarters.

“They were extremely courteous to me. Only, I didn’t understand whenever they spoke in Marathi.”

“I was apprehensive about the fact that I had received no threatening calls during the period that I was mentioned in the telephonic conversation. So that nothing untoward happens, I have now tightened my security.”

In the meantime, the bail application of Bharat Shah was heard in the Bombay high court too by Justice S.S. Parkar this week. The prosecution specially flew in solicitor general Harish Salve from Delhi to Bombay to argue on its behalf on 2nd March. Bharatbhai moved the high court after his bail plea was rejected by special judge A.P. Bhangale of the MCOCA court on 7th February.

Meanwhile, Santosh Singh Jain, who has been appointed court receiver for the release of Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, confirmed that the ground was set for the film’s release on 9th March all over.

SHOCKING REVELATIONS IN UPHAAR CINEMA FIRE CASE

The Uphaar cinema fire case has revealed some startling facts about the “utter disregard of fire safety regulations” by the Ansals who own the Delhi cinema. According to the CBI, the agency investigating the case, there were separate sets of rules applied for the ‘common’ and the ‘elite’ cinegoers. This is borne out by the minutes of the meetings of the cinema management held in 1989.

The minutes reveal how the management decided to segregate the hall according to the social status of the people, thereby making glaring deviations in building bye-laws in the construction of the cinema.

According to the report of a 3-member committee appointed by the Delhi high court, more than 50 seats were added to the balcony and the two gangways, while one exit on the right side was closed. This left only a central gangway for the patrons to move about, says the report. Due to such uncommon blocking of exits, the central exit was forced to cater to at least 200 people as against the norm of one exit per 150 persons, the report concludes.

It may be recalled that the cinema is the subject matter of a court case following the outbreak of a fire in it in 1997, which claimed the lives of 59 people, besides injuring many others. Those dead were trapped in the balcony due to the management’s flouting of the norms.

SIGNED

Priyanka Chopra Signed

Priyanka Chopra has been signed to play the lead role opposite Sunny Deol in Movie World’s The Hero, being directed by Anil Sharma. The other cast and credits are being finalised.

YOU ASKED IT

Are adult films eligible for tax-exemption? Has any such film been exempted?

– There’s nothing to stop the government from exempting an adult film from entertainment tax. AGNI SAKSHI, DARR and GHAYAL, all adult films, were granted tax exemption in Maharashtra. 

Most of the directors prefer to pose with the camera for their publicity stills. Why so? Does the director need to look into the camera for every shot?

– Yes, directors do look into the camera to see the frame. So what’s wrong in posing with the camera?

Lately, many films are being shot on locations in New Zealand and Australia? Are they considered lucky following the success of KN…PH?

– Besides being lucky, the two countries also boast of excellent locations. 

Observations.com

Cinemas of Calcutta and other parts of Bengal will remain closed from 23rd March as the unions of cinema employees have decided to go on an indefinite strike beginning that day. The decision to this effect was taken on 1st March. The unions have been demanding wage revision for its members. The cinema owners are not willing to oblige. The West Bengal government seems to be in no mood to intervene. Will forthcoming film releases be rescheduled?

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Release of Officer in some cinemas of Bombay suburbs and circuit did not happen on Friday as Bombino obtained a stay order on further delivery of prints even before all the prints could be delivered to the distributor. Bombay distributor Pradeep (Bhaiya) tried to get the stay vacated but did not succeed. He could get only 28 of the 45 prints he was to take delivery of. Fearing the worst, Pradeep released the film at Thane on Thursday. Producer Farooq Nadiadwala is said to be owing Bombino 20 while Pradeep had to pay only 12 to the former. The shortfall of 8 proved the cog in the wheel. Reportedly, a settlement will be arrived at today. Some cinemas, unable to obtain prints, remained closed on Friday.

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Saali Poori Gharwali could well be re-titled Saali Poori Courtwali. Legal hassles seem to be the order of the day for its producer, Yogendra Konkar. He has moved the Bombay high court against the IMPDA order which provided that his film would be released in Bombay circuit by Gola and not by the distributor to whom Konkar had sold it for a price. Gola was earlier asked by Konkar to release the film on commission basis. But once the film clicked elsewhere, distributors were ready to pay a price for its rights.

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More than a year after Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai became a blockbuster, Rakesh Roshan is struggling for a script for his next film. Although he has mentally decided on a story idea, it all depends on how the screenplay turns out.

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Karan Johar shot a song for Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham earlier this month in great style. Besides Indian dancers, he had 40 dancers — equal number of girls and guys — flown in from London specially for the song. The goris and goras stayed in the 5-star Sun-N-Sand Hotel at Juhu, Bombay. The song was choreographed by Farah Khan. The lead dancers were Hrithik Roshan and Kareena Kapoor.

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Aamir Khan told a guy, who was keen on acquiring the distribution rights of his Lagaan for C.I. territory, “We’ve not tried to make a money-spinner. We’ve done our creative best. We’ve made a Saraswati. And where there’s Saraswati, there’s Laxmi.” Considering that Aamir belongs to a different faith, his knowledge and application of the Hindu faith is very creditable!

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Shah Rukh Khan is keen to release his Asoka (yes, that’s the way it’s spelt) on 25th May, 2001. “I’ve told my people to keep everything ready for a 25th May release,” quipped the actor.

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The market is awaiting the release of Mukta Arts’ Rahul. The finance market, that is. Although Mukta has made a clean profit on the Prakash Jha film, the investors are still keenly awaiting the box-office fate of the emotional drama of a child and his estranged parents.

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Producer Vashu Bhagnani is the next to jump on to the bandwagon of public issues. Rumours are rife that Rajshri and Yash Chopra are contemplating going public too, but things are in an extremely preliminary stage. So preliminary that it may or may not happen.

– Komal Nahta

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Bond With Success

Suneel Darshan has reason to rejoice. Those who’ve seen the rushes of his under-production film, Ek Rishtaa – The Bond Of Love, are convinced that producer-director Suneel’s bond with success will continue in this film too. Like his earlier hit, Jaanwar, this one also abounds in emotions and is reported to have sterling performances by Amitabh, Akshay Kumar, Juhi and Karisma Kapoor.

Ram Gopal Varma’s ‘Company’

The battle for supremacy among two underworld dons, Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Rajan, which had contributed to so many stories in newspapers and magazines so far, will now explode on the big screen, thanks to producer-director Ram Gopal Varma who has announced Company. He has signed Vivek Oberoi, son of Suresh Oberoi, to play the character inspired by Chhota Rajan. Ajay Devgan has reportedly been signed to play Dawood Ibrahim. Malayalam films’ superstar, Mohanlal, will make his debut on the Hindi screen in this film in the character of a South Indian top cop (perhaps, joint commissioner of Bombay police, D. Sivanandan). While Ram Gopal Varma’s Satya saw the underworld from a don’s point of view, Company will be a subject which Varma will see from the police’s point of view. The filmmaker has based it on real-life experiences as recounted by various top cops whom he had met. Varma was indeed in good company during his research on the subject.

India-Bashing: Lollywood’s Lolly!

What is Pakistan’s answer to our patriotic films like Roja, Border, Refugee and Mission Kashmir? Films like Ghar Kab Aaogey, Tere Pyar Mein and Musalman. These Pakistani films are meant to be Pakistan’s rejoinders (!) to Indian patriotic films. In fact, such films are an attempt by Lollywood (the Pak film industry) producers to earn their lolly! These Pakistani propaganda films are an exercise in India-bashing. What’s interesting is that they are imitations of Hindi films, substituting a Pakistani hero for an Indian one. One film, Tere Pyar Mein, is an unabashed copy of Refugee.

Despite such Pak-propaganda films, there is still demand for Indian patriotic films. In spite of a ban, video libraries secretly rent out video copies of these films.

Tambu Bhi Nahin Mila!

Soon after the earthquake in Gujarat, Aamir Khan rushed relief material to Kunria, a small village in Kutch, where his Lagaan was shot. In his first instalment of relief supplies, he sent tent cloth to the villagers who had worked for the film’s shooting for nearly 10 months. That was enough to set the rumour that Aamir had adopted the village. The relief-supplying agencies, therefore, opted out of Kunria and went to another place! One villager, who was not a part of the shooting crew, is reported to have quipped, “Humein kya mila? Tambu bhi nahin mila!” 

‘FIZA’ SILVER JUBILEE

The Culture Co. (I) P. Ltd. and UTV Motion Pictures’ Fiza entered 25th combined week on 23rd February at Dreamland, Bombay in matinee shows. The film, produced by Pradeep Guha, marks the debut of film critic Khalid Mohamed as director. Khalid has also written its story and screenplay. The main cast comprises Jaya Bachchan, Karisma Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan, Neha, Asha Sachdev, Bikram Saluja, Isha Koppikar and Johny Lever with Manoj Bajpayee and Sushmita Sen in guest appearances. Music is by Anu Malik. Cinematography: Santosh Sivan. Dialogues: Javed Siddiqi. Art: Sharmishtha Roy. Choreography: Saroj Khan, Farah Khan and Ganesh Hegde. Action: Sham Kaushal.

BHIKUBHAI MISTRY NO MORE

Bhikubhai Mistry, owner of Pratap cinema, Baroda, and partner in Aradhana cinema, Baroda, passed away on 17th February in Baroda following a prolonged illness. He was 84.

NARSING CINEMA, NAGPUR CLOSED AFTER FIRE

Narsing cinema, Nagpur has been shut down for repairs, following a fire which broke out at the cinema earlier this week. Caused by a short-circuit in the wiring behind the screen of the cinema, the fire gutted the screen cloth while also damaging equipment including Dolby speakers.

No one was reported hurt during the incident which took place at 7.30 a.m. The cinema will reopen shortly after repairs are carried out.

RANJAN SALVI DEAD

Ranjan Salvi, choreographer of Marathi films, breathed his last on 16th February at his Alandi (Pune) residence, due to a long-standing illness. He was 72 and is survived by his wife, two sons, a daughter and grandchildren.

He had choreographed songs in 175 Marathi films between 1950 and 1985. He worked for veteran directors like V. Shantaram, Anant Mane and Raj Dutt for films like Pinjra, Chani, Kela Ishara Jata Jata, Sawal Maza Aika, Sugandhi Katta, Sangu Kashi Mee and Laxmi. Almost all top heroines of Marathi cinema, like Sandhya, Jayashree Gadkar, Usha Chavan and Usha Naik had worked under Ranjan Salvi.

Dance director Subal Sarkar, paying tribute to the late choreographer, said that his contribution to the Marathi film industry was remarkable and the industry should take note of his great art.

HRITHIK MEETS CHILDREN FROM KASHMIR

Seventy-eight children from Srinagar, who were brought on a 10-day picnic to Pune and Bombay by Sarhad, a non-government organisation, met Hrithik Roshan at Filmistan Studios, Bombay on 20th February on the sets of Karan Johar’s Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. The star gave autographs to all the 78 children, conversed with them and posed for photographs. Most of the kids in the range of age group 7 to 14 were orphans adopted by a Kashmiri Trust. The kids went back carrying happy memories of their meet with the KN…PH star.

BABY GIRL FOR JUHI-JAI

Juhi Chawla delivered a baby girl on 21st February at the Breach Candy Hospital in Bombay. This is Juhi and Jai Mehta’s first child.

Juhi had been admitted to the hospital earlier during the day. The baby weighed seven-and-a-half pounds at the time of birth.

TECHNICOLOR TO BUILD WORLD’S LARGEST FILM LAB

Technicolor this week announced plans to build the world’s largest film laboratory at Mirabel, a suburb of Montreal in Canada. To be built at a cost of US $29 million, the laboratory will employ state-of-the-art technology and computer automation. The film processing and distribution facility, spread over 1,25,000 sq. ft., will be manned by 275 people.

Technicolor, one of the first companies in the world to bring colour to films, is owned by the French electronics giant, Thomson Multimedia. Technicolor’s acquisitions in 2000 include Astraltech, the second-largest video duplicator company in Canada, and Covitec, one of the biggest suppliers of integrated technical services to film, TV and advertising industries.

NANDITA DAS BAGS BEST ACTRESS AWARD

Nandita Das bagged the best actress award at the Santa Monica Film Festival, USA, on 19th February for her outstanding performance in Bawandar (Sandstorm). The film’s director, Dr. Jagmohan Mundhra, and Nandita Das were invited to the awards presentation function held at Fair Mont Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica. The film has won rave reviews at every foreign film festival it has been screened.

Meanwhile, the film is still awaiting a censor certificate in India. It has been offered four-five cuts by the CBFC, which are not acceptable to the producers. “The cuts they have asked for are not as offensive as the scenes they have passed in Bandit Queen,” says the film’s producer, Gaurang Doshi.

SCRIPT FOR PROTECTION OF COPYRIGHT LAW

Shakti Samanta, president of the IMPPA and the FFI, organised an interactive meeting of producers and office-bears of the Society for Copyright Regulation of Indian Producers for Films and Television (SCRIPT) on 15th February at IMPPA House, Bombay. About 50 producers attended the meeting.

SCRIPT is a non-profit organisation and a society registered and recognised by the government of India under section 33(3) of the Copyright Act, 1957. Former chief of Bombay police, R.D. Tyagi, is its executive president.

Through the interactive meet, an attempt was made by SCRIPT to promote awareness about copyright law and to educate film producers to understand the basic provisions of the copyright laws and protection of copyright of their films. R.D. Tyagi made a presentation on the various provisions of the copyright law to help producers protect their various rights.

The SCRIPT executive president fielded a number of queries from the producers present at the meeting. While Shakti Samanta took it upon himself to make the meeting a success, K.D. Shorey was actively engaged in discussions.

There was general consensus among the producers present that they become members of SCRIPT. A suggestion was made by the producers to reduce the membership fee for ordinary membership of SCRIPT from Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 500. It was also suggested that rental rights of films be assigned to SCRIPT for collective administration of copyright. The society has volunteered to provide free legal help to producers by way of vetting and appraising their contracts in order to adequately protect their long-term interests.

Zakhir Thomas, registrar, Copyright Board, New Delhi, and T.C. James, deputy registrar, specially flew to Bombay to participate in the deliberations.

ANIL KAPOOR RELEASES MUSIC OF ‘LITTLE JOHN’

Anil Kapoor formally released the music of Media Dreams Ltd.’s Little John and presented the first audio cassettes to Yukta Mookhey, heroine Jyotika, the film’s writer-director, Singeetham Srinivasa Rao, and its debut-making music director, Pravin Mani, at a party held on 23rd February at Hotel Sun-N-Sand, Juhu, Bombay. Three, out of six songs, were screened on the occasion. Among those who were present at the party were Adlabs chief Manmohan Shetty, Balkrishna Shroff, Shravan Shroff and N. Chandra. The music has been brought out on the HMV Sa Re Ga Ma label.

The film is a trilingual, in Hindi, Tamil and English.

ASHOK KUMAR RELEASES BIOGRAPHY EDITION

The second edition of Madhubala’s biography in Marathi, written by well-known Marathi language film biographer Shashikant Kinikar, was released by Ashok Kumar at his residence at Chembur, Bombay on 14th February, the birth anniversary of the glamour queen of the ’50s and ’60s. The book has been published by Ulhas Latkar of Ameiya Prakashan.

The second edition was brought out following a heartening response to the first edition which was released in July 2000 at the hands of then baby Shakuntala who had co-starred with Madhubala in Pardes.

At the release of the second edition of the book, Ashok Kumar, who played the lead man opposite Madhubala in Kamal Amrohi’s Mahal (1949), recalled, “She was comparatively new and this (Mahal) was the first time she was working with me. I found her quick to grasp the modalities of a natural performance. In our latter films together, I was happy to find that success had not gone to her head. She had become a complete professional. How can we ever forget her effervescent laughter and the way she handled the many problems of her life with a smile? In my opinion, the two greatest Indian actresses of Hindi cinema ever are Madhubala and Geeta Bali.”

The function was attended by the publishers, veteran film historian and author Bunny Reuben and a few Marathi journalists.

R.A. JALAN ON CAIRO FILM FESTIVAL JURY

R.A. Jalan, producer of award-winning children’s films Safed Haathi and Aaj Ka Robinhood, has been invited to be a member of the international jury of the 11th Cairo International Film Festival for Children. The fete will be held from 13th March to 20th March. Director Tapan Sinha has also been invited to attend the fete. Jalan’s Anokha Moti, directed by Tapan Sinha, has already been screened and appreciated at four international film fetes.

Earlier, R.A. Jalan was invited to be a member of the international jury of the 8th International Film Festival for Children at Adelaide in Australia.

YOU ASKED IT

When a film goes beyond the overflow mark, till how long will the distributor go on sharing the overflow money with the producer? Till the first-run is completed or till the expiry of the distribution rights?

– Obviously, till the expiry of the distribution rights.

Consider this proposition: a cast of all newcomers in the lead with top-class supporting cast, with hit music and top technicians in the credits. Will this make a viable proposal?

– How can you say that the music will be hit when the proposal is not yet made? Anyway, it all depends on who the top supporting cast includes and who are the top technicians.

How can a producer think of keeping a negative title like Grahan for his film?

– There has been a film made with the same title (GRAHAN), which was released in 1973. It starred Nutan and today’s top maker, Subhash Ghai. Incidentally, Subhash Ghai was also indirectly involved with the new GRAHAN as a friendly advisor.

Isn’t there any producer who is confident enough to title his film Hit No. 1?

– How about BIT NO. 1 for a sex film which boasts of uncensored bits? As for HIT NO. 1, what if the film bombs? The contrast (between the title and the reality) will be too glaring.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

‘Lagaan’ — Another Long Film?

Take a deep breath, folks! Mohabbatein was not the last lengthy film in recent times. After Aditya Chopra, it’s actor Aamir Khan who has made a very, very lengthy film. Although Aamir’s first production venture, Lagaan, directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, had a running time of 4½ hours, it has been suitably edited so that the final copy will have a running time of 3½ hours. Still, Aamir, who is keen that the film proves to be a profitable venture for its distributors, has decided to keep it of 3½ hours’ duration if and only if his distributors think it worthwhile. Aamir and Adi sure seem to think, length is strength.

While on Aamir’s Lagaan, people, who’ve seen the songs, swear by them. Not just the music (A.R. Rahman) and lyrics (Javed Akhtar) but also the picturisations (Raju Khan).

Not Customary

The customs officials in Bombay have won the ire of film folk. And not without reason. At least three producers, who’ve just returned after shooting their films abroad, have had to pay customs duty on the reels exposed! The shocking part is that no such duty was levied all these years, but some officer in the Bombay customs department has pointed out a provision in the law book, which provides for levy of duty on exposed raw stock!

Resultantly, producer Ketan Desai was poorer by Rs. 3.84 lakh on his return from New Zealand, and Vashu Bhagnani had to shell out Rs. 1 lakh on his return to India from NZ, where he shot his Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai. Producer Boney Kapoor had to shell out Rs. 1 lakh when the unit of his Koi Mere Dil Se Poochhe landed in India on 19th February, again from New Zealand.

The strange part is that those coming in from abroad and landing in Madras or Delhi are not being charged the customs duty!

Boney, after paying the Rs. 1 lakh duty, said, “The commissioner of customs, Mr. Yuvaraj Gupta, seems to be a very helpful person. I’ve rarely seen a more receptive and accommodative person at that level than Mr. Gupta. He heard me out and explained to me that there was definitely a grey area. While he is taking up the matter himself with the higher-ups, he has also asked the film industry to pursue the matter from its side.”

Kicking Up a Storm?… Not Quite!

While Bawandar is being screened at international film festivals, it is still to be cleared for release in India. The censors ordered five cuts which were not acceptable to director Jagmohan Mundra who has appealed to the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT). Believe it or not, the FCAT has not viewed Jag’s film even several months after the appeal.

Poor Jag can’t even kick up a storm over his Sandstorm. He’d rather wait for the FCAT to see his film and pass its verdict.

Not Present For The Badhais

The silver jubilee of Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai was celebrated on 20th February on the sets of Anil Kapoor’s Badhai Ho Badhai. And while Anil was obviously there, and Sonali Bendre made it a point to attend the luncheon party, heroine Aishwarya Rai chose to stay away from the celebrations. She was away in Goa and, perhaps, did not think it necessary to attend the jubilee celebration of her own film. Incidentally, the celebratory party was very different from the normal filmland parties held in 5-star hotels. It was a more cosy affair.

Priyanka Chopra Signs Debut Film

If Miss Asia-Pacific Diya Mirza has come, can Miss World Priyanka Chopra be far behind? Producer-director Anil Sharma will launch Priyanka in The Hero, to be made under the banner of Movie World. And who will be the hero opposite Miss World? Sunny Deol. It will be after years that Sunny will be seen with a rank newcomer.

Anil Sharma is currently directing Gadar Ek Prem Katha for Zee. It stars Sunny Deol and Amisha Patel.

Ekta’s ‘K’ Factor

Ekta Kapoor, the illustrious daughter of Jeetendra, can’t forget the day her astrologer told her to title her family soaps on Star Plus with any word/s beginning with a ‘K’. The superstitious Ekta called one soap Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, and the other, Kahani Ghar Ghar Kii. The soaps became overnight hits and Ekta and Star haven’t stopped smiling since.

Realising that ‘K’ spells success for her, Ekta has decided to change the title of dad Jeetendra’s first feature film too. The Govinda-Sushmita Sen starrer, being directed by David Dhawan, was titled Sajan Re Jhuth Mat Bolo, but Ekta just might opt for another title — Kyunki Main Jhuth Nahin Bolta. Govinda plays a lawyer in the comedy flick. What’s that they say about lawyers being liars?!?

The Lagan To Be Different

What makes Aamir Khan, the producer, different from the rest of his ilk? The urge to do things differently. Like choosing a rustic, period subject for his first venture, Lagaan, at a time when youthful, urbane romances are considered safe bets. Now, having completed the post-production work of the film, Aamir has also chosen to tread a different path in promoting the film. He has released its trailers in cinema halls even before airing its promos on television, as is customary these days. The trailer, featuring a commentary by Amitabh Bachchan, seems to be serving the purpose as people, who have seen it, have been impressed.

SPOT INTERVIEW

“A leading cinema owner of Ratlam told us, he might keep his cinema closed for the whole of March as there’s no worthwhile programme to show.”

– DEEPAK & HARISH JANIANI

KOMAL NAHTA

Deepak and Harish Janiani are two amiable brothers who run their distribution concern, Sunil Enterprises, in Indore. Soft-spoken and very straightforward, the brothers are good conversationalists. They were in Bombay this week when Information met them. Their account of the distribution and exhibition trade in C.I. today was alarming, to say the least.

How is the scene in C.I.?

Terrible! With no electricity, no water and no money with people, film-going has become a distant dream these days. The drought situation in Madhya Pradesh is so bad that film business has become a major casualty. The distributor of Aashiq will lose about Rs. 30 lakh. Even Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega is in minus. Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai  is also a loser. Kasoor will do a business of just Rs. 6 or 7 lakh in C.I.!

Are films bad or are people not coming to cinemas?

The scenario prevalent today is a combination of both the above. No film has been faring well at the box-office in the past many weeks. Can you believe it, there was just one single person — we repeat — one single person in the last show on the first day of Kahin Pyaar Na Ho Jaaye in the balcony in a cinema at Dabra (a ‘C’ class centre of C.I.). We know it because we released the film.

Television serials today are better than films. Serial makers are paying technicians so well that talent is going to TV. If you see serials like Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, you will realise the excellent quality of dialogues, the superb presentation and narration of serials.

In such a scenario, how do you feel inclined to buy distribution rights of films?

We don’t. We only release films on commission basis. Doing business for producers and submitting honest accounts to them is the best thing today. We have the entire lot of Tips’ forthcoming films to release on commission basis and we are happy with that. Ramesh-ji (Taurani) told us, he’ll give us large turnover because of which our commission, even at medium rate, will turn out to be big.

What about other C.I. distributors? How are they coping?

Where are the distributors in C.I.? There are only a handful of them left in the business. A couple of big distributors have simply downed shutters as they have suffered losses to the tune of Rs. 1 to 1.5 crore in the last 4 or 5 years. Since we never pay a price, there’s no question of our losing money. And because we don’t lose money, we don’t offset one film’s profit against another film’s loss. Other distributors may feel like doing so because of the huge losses some films might entail. No distributor is bad, it is the circumstances which make him do wrong.

Believe it or not, distributors of several forthcoming big films are so shaken that they’d rather relinquish their rights than release them. They are waiting for the delivery date to pass so that they can give the notice of relinquishment in the case of delayed films.

What is the way out then?

Producers must realise the plight of distributors and reduce film prices. Makers of star-cast films are recovering their cost from three territories — Overseas, Satellite and Music. They should, therefore, not sell the Indian territorial rights at unduly high prices. They can even give the distribution rights on agency basis by selecting honest distributors in every territory. ‘Live and let live’ should be the motto. For, sometimes, even if a distributor manages to break even, it is at the cost of his exhibitor-brothers who’ve paid fancy terms.

How are the exhibitors managing with such a bad crop of films?

Exhibitors are in no better a position than distributors. A leading cinema owner of Ratlam told us, he might keep his cinema closed for the whole of March as there’s no worthwhile programme to show. He might tell the world outside that the cinema would remain closed for repairs although the fact would be something else. Cinemas are screening films at reduced rates because of poor attendance.

(with inputs by Gautam Mutha)

GRAHAN

Jackie Shroff Entertainment Ltd.’s Grahan (A) is a social film with the theme of ‘fight for justice’. A beautiful, innocent and poor girl (Manisha Koirala) is raped by the son of the chief minister. The matter goes to court with the noble chief minister’s approval. In the meanwhile, the scandalised chief minister dies of shock due to his wayward son’s ghastly act. The ruling party makes the chief minister’s daughter (Anupama Verma) the acting chief minister with the motive of garnering sympathy votes in the forthcoming elections. The new chief minister’s beloved (Jackie Shroff), an astute but honest advocate, comes to the aid of the accused (rapist) by proving the rape victim to be a girl of loose character. He is unaware of the girl’s innocence. However, when he soon comes to know the truth, he goes in search of the girl to express his apologies. But finding the girl in an almost insane state, he first gets her medically treated. When the girl recovers, the lawyer tries to get her married to the boy to whom she was engaged. But the girl’s prospective in-laws refuse to accept her because of the rape stigma.

On the other hand, after the elections, when the lady chief minister and her cabinet, including the CM’s rapist-brother, are sworn in at an open-air function, the rape victim shoots the rapist to avenge her rape. The man dies on the spot. The conscientious lawyer holds brief for her despite his beloved’s (the new CM’s) strong objection and, in doing so, he also goes against the advice of his brother who had earlier fought the case as a prosecution advocate. Finally, justice prevails.

The story has an ennobling theme. But the drama has very few fine and very many dull moments. The court scenes before and after the interval keep the drama going but the pace is slow. Further, the single (rape) track of the film gets too irritating after a while. The love songs between the hero and his beloved in the beginning brings in dullness. The song situations between the insane girl and the lawyer-hero lack conviction. The happy ending, too, looks like a compromise. Thus the drama is of a switch on – switch off kind. Dialogues are appropriate. The narration is of the kind which will be liked, if at all, by only the elite.

Jackie Shroff gives an excellent performance. Manisha Koirala is superb, delivering a versatile performance, both as a chaste innocent belle and a mentally-tormented rape victim. Anupama Verma fails to impress as she is wooden. She doesn’t pass off as a chief minister by any stretch of imagination. Prasad Purandare, as the rapist, is also not up to the mark. Raghuvaran is fair.

Director K. Shashilaal Nair has made a spirited attempt to present an unusual drama but he fails miserably. Music director Karthik Raja makes an impressive debut on the Hindi screen with very melodious songs. Asha Bhosle’s rendition of Ae sochta hai kya is masterly. Cinematography is good. Other technical aspects are fair. The film looks stale, having taken a long time to reach the screens.

On the whole, Grahan will prove to be a disaster, its poor start only further eclipsing any bright prospects.

Released on 16-2-2001 at Metro and 9 other cinemas of Bombay thru Vishal Distributors. Publicity: average. Opening: dull. …….Also released all over except in C.I.

‘CHORI CHORI….’ RELEASE CERTAIN
Santosh Singh Jain Appointed Receiver

Hectic preparations are on for the release of the much-delayed controversial film, Chori Chori Chupke Chuke, following the appointment of CCCA president Santosh Singh Jain as receiver by the special court, in the matter of release of the film. The order appointing 34-time president of the Central Circuit Cine Association, the largest association of the film industry, as receiver was passed by judge A.P. Bhangale on 12th February.

While Mahesh Bhatt was tipped to be the receiver, the crime branch of the Bombay police is reported to have objected to his appointment tooth and nail as he was perceived by the police to be Bharat Shah’s man.

It may be recalled that the release of Chori Chori Chupke Chupke was thrown in jeopardy when its producer, Nazim Rizvi, was arrested on 13th December, for his alleged underworld links. Soon thereafter, the film’s negatives were seized by the crime branch. Bharat Shah, whose presentation CCCC is, was arrested on 8th January and, after being kept in police custody for several days, both, Shah and Rizvi, have since been remanded to judicial custody.

Soon after the order appointing Jain as receiver was passed, the seized negatives were released (on 15th February). One reel was still to be mixed when the negative had been seized in December last. The mixing will be completed at Empire and once the first copy is out, the film will be ready for release. With not many major films set for release in the coming four to six weeks, it is very likely that CCCC may at long last hit the screens in early or mid-March (2nd, 9th or 16th).

ED QUESTIONS SANJAY DUTT

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) interrogated Sanjay Dutt on 14th February in connection with investigations relating to Bharat Shah – Chhota Shakeel – Bombay film industry nexus. It is for the first time that a star has been questioned by a government agency other than the Bombay police. ED officials have refused to reveal the reason for summoning Sanjay Dutt. Since ED’s area of investigations includes transfer of money abroad or vice versa, it is presumed that the actor may have been questioned about some money transactions.

Some actresses have also been summoned by the ED, it is learnt.

MAHESH BHATT EXPRESS JOY AT JAIN’S APPOINTMENT

Mahesh Bhatt expressed pleasure over Santosh Singh Jain’s appointment as court receiver in the matter of the release of Chori Chori Chupke Chupke. He said in a statement, “I am very happy that a person of the calibre and experience of Santosh Singh Jain has been chosen to carry out the responsibility as the court receiver….” Saying that Jain’s appointment “has removed a burden off my shoulder”, Bhatt expressed confidence that Jain Sahab would do a better job at the assigned task.

VIJAY KONDKE LODGES POLICE COMPLAINT

Producer-director and Bombay distributor Vijay Kondke has complained to the commissioner of police, Bombay, DCP Zone II and ACP, D.B. Marg police station, of the alleged threats issued to him by MLA Shabir Sheikh, deputy commissioner of income-tax, Pune, Padmakar More and others after barging into his office on the sixth floor of Naaz building, Bombay on 10th February.

Kondke has also alleged that inspector Dhanavade of the D.B. Marg police station had refused to register his complaint and was favouring those who had threatened him and his relatives who had come to meet him (Vijay Kondke). He was also roughed up and threatened about his life, Kondke has said in his complaint.

According to the traders in Naaz, the fracas was a result of some internal dispute over the property and assets of Vijay Kondke’s late uncle, Dada Kondke.

RAMESH SIPPY’S SON TO WED

Rakesh, son of Bombay distributor Ramesh Sippy, will wed Sweetu on 2nd March in Bombay at the NSCI, Worli. The wedding reception will be held the same evening at the same venue.

DULAL GUHA PASSES AWAY

Producer-director Dulal Guha breathed his last on the morning of 14th February at Lilavati Hospital, Bombay, where he was being treated for jaundice and diabetes. He was 71 and is survived by his wife, three sons — Gautam, Putul, Pintu — three daughters-in-law and six grandchildren.

Born in Barisal (now in Bangla Desh) on 2nd April, 1929, Dulal Guha was brought to Bombay in 1953 by Bimal Roy. He worked as an assistant to Satyen Bose. He got break as an independent director with Ek Gaon Ki Kahani (1956) which was produced by Satyen Bose. The film, starring Mala Sinha, Nirupa Roy, Abhi Bhattacharya and actor-singer Talat Mahmood, with hit music by Salil Choudhry, became a big success, and Dulal Guha was roped in to direct three films, all of which ultimately got shelved!

He, therefore, launched his own banner, Ganga Chitra, in 1962 and made Chand Aur Suraj, starring Ashok Kumar, Dharmendra, Nirupa Roy and Tanuja. Released in 1965, it remained a moderate success.

Dulal Guha achieved top success as director with Dharti Kahe Pukar Ke (1969), starring Jeetendra, Sanjeev Kumar and Nanda. He was much in demand, but in the same year came Jyoti, and Mere Humsafar in the following year. Barring Premji, all the other producers, who had approached him to direct their films following the big success of Dharti Kahe Pukar Ke, kept away following the failures of Jyoti and Mere Humsafar. He directed Dushmun (1971), a super-hit, for Premji. Since then, Guha remained among the most active directors. He directed Premji’s Dost (1974), Dharmendra’s home production, Pratiggya (1975), Do Anjaane (1976), Khan Dost (1976), Dil Kaa Heera (1979), Dhan Daulat (1980), Dhuan (1981) and Do Dishayen (1982).

Dulal Guha then took a break after which he tried his hand at production once again. He made Sagar Sangam (1988).

After producing two films and directing 15 films, the producer-director called it a day and decided to move far away from the Bombay film industry. He shifted to Nasik where he looked after his farm, Sai Baug, for the last 10 years.

On 3rd January, the three Guha brothers rushed to Nasik when they learnt of their father’s illness. He was brought to Bombay and admitted to Lilavati Hospital on 8th. After a fortnight’s treatment, he was back home (Bombay residence). Guha had to be re-admitted to the ICU of Lilavati Hospital on 27th January. On 14th February, he breathed his last at 7.40 a.m. He was cremated the same day at Oshiwara crematorium.

Paying tributes to the departed soul, Premji said, “Dulal Guha had always been an accomplished technician. He never used to promote himself unlike others of his tribe. Village subjects used to fascinate him. His first film was Satyen Bose’s Ek Gaon Ki Kahani which, incidentally, is the only Satyen Bose film which was not directed by Satyen-da himself. And Dulal-da vindicated Satyen-da’s faith in him. His two other rural subjects were Dharti Kahe Pukar Ke and Dushmun, both of which were super-hits. And what’s more, when he retired from filmmaking, he spent his time in the solitude of a village in Nasik…. I will never forget his dedication, his erudition. He was a voracious reader of Bengali books and he used to quote passages word for word. We’ve lost a great man.”

According to Premji, “Even today, Shatrughan Sinha considers his role in Dulal Guha’s Dost as his lifetime’s best role.”

RAM MAHESHWARY BIDS ADIEU

Noted director Ram Maheshwary passed away in the early morning hours of 10th February at his residence in Bombay, following a brief illness. He was 74.

Before starting his film career as a director, Ram Maheshwary was a lecturer at Hindu College, Amritsar, where he was the head of the department of political science. His debut-making film, Kaajal (1965), proved a super-hit. His second film, Neel Kamal, also proved a runaway hit. He directed both these films for his home banner, Kalpnalok.

He later made a Punjabi film, Nanak Naam Jahaz Hai, a Sikh devotional, which created history in Punjab. It also won for him the President’s award. Ram Maheshwary then directed Karmyogi and Chambal Ki Kassam. Incidentally, all his four Hindi films starred Raaj Kumar. He directed one more Punjabi film on Sikh religion, Sarbans Daani Guru Gobind Singh. A little before his death, Ram Maheshwary had completed the script for another Sikh devotional on Guru Tegh Bahadur. He had also recorded five songs for the film which he considered an ambitious project. But Death did not wait!

RAVI MALHOTRA NO MORE

Producer Ravi Malhotra (maker of Khel Khel Mein, Rahi Badal Gaye, Jhoota Kahin Ka and Hum Dono), brother of Rakesh Malhotra (producer of Hadh Kar Dil Aapne), expired on 13th February following cardiac arrest at Nanavati Hospital in Bombay. He is survived by his wife, a daughter, a son, three sisters and a brother. Chautha ceremony was held on 16th at Arya Samaj Mandir, Santacruz.

DINESH ANAND SHOT DEAD

After Hanif Kadawala, yet another film personality was gunned down on 14th February by the underworld. Actor Dinesh Anand, who has done bit roles in scores of films, was shot to death on Wednesday at National Park, Borivli, Bombay.

Dinesh used to be a permanent face in slain producer Mukesh Duggal’s films like Fateh and Platform. He used to generally play the villain’s henchman or a lawyer. He was very recently seen in Kuch Khatti Kuch Meethi.

BHAKTI BARVE-INAMDAR DIES IN ACCIDENT

Actress Bhatkti Barve-Inamdar was killed in a road accident on the Bombay-Pune expressway near Panvel on 12th February. She was returning from Wai after participating in a stage-show when the car in which she was travelling collided with an electric pole. She died on the spot.

She was rushed to a hospital in Vashi, near Bombay but was declared dead on arrival. Bhakti, the widow of actor Shafi Inamdar, was 55.

A veteran actress of Marathi stage and films, Bhakti Barve-Inamdar began her carrer as a Marathi newsreader on Bombay Doordarshan in the ‘seventies. She made her debut in Hindi films in the role of a firebrand newspaper editor in Kundan Shah’s Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1984). She later married actor-director Shafi Inamdar. Shafi had died of a massive heart attack at the young age of 47 in 1996. Among the Marathi dramas Bhakti had acted in was Tee Phulrani.

Bhakti Barve-Inamdar’s body was taken to Shivaji Mandir at Dadar where her last rites were performed. She was cremated the same afternoon.

YOU ASKED IT

When the negatives of Chori Chori Chupke Chupke were under police custody (and kept in the lab), how did its pirated videos come out, as claimed by the Overseas distributors?

– Have you seen a pirated video cassette of CHORI CHORI CHUPKE CHUPKE? If the film had, in fact, been pirated, why didn’t the pirated video cassettes reach India?

Some of the serials which come on channels these days are very much appreciated by the audience, for their story content. Why don’t our producers, who complain about the dearth of good stories, tap the talents of such writers?

– You’ve got a point. Several television writers are doing films also. But let me add, film writing and television writing are very different things. 

In a film production budget, how much percentage is allocated for publicity, including paper, radio, TV, posters, banners, hoardings etc.

– Between 5 and 10%.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

The Fall Story!

Subhash Ghai, Hrithik Roshan and Kareena Kapoor. Each had a nasty fall last week. And that will remain a part of their yaadein. This is how the mighty fell!

Subhash Ghai was shooting on an island location of Langkawi in Malaysia for Yaadein. On 10th February, after pack-up, Ghai was walking up the stairs to the dockyard from the yacht in which they were shooting. With Hrithik lending him a helping hand, Ghai rushed his way up. Suddenly, the wooden stairs beneath creaked and gave way! The next moment, both, Hrithik and Ghai, found themselves in the waters!! It was only with Hrithik’s help that Ghai managed to come out of the waters. He, however, suffered injuries on his right arm, while Hrithik ended with very few bruises.

Kareena, on the other hand, was riding a bicycle for a shot of Yaadein when she lost her balance and bit the dust, hurting her knees in the process! Well, that’s all about falls bizarre….

A smart Alec rhymed:

Those rickety steps seemed to do it all
As Ghai and Hrithik in waters did fall
While Kareena, cycling for a shot,
Fell and found her knees to be a sore spot! 

Sunny’s Hair-Raising Experience

For Sunny Deol, Zee’s Gadar Ek Prem Katha was a truly hair-raising experience. And not just because it was shot for 39 days in Amritsar and other places in Punjab where son of the soil Sunny is revered as God! That surging crowds used to disrupt shootings on the streets and railway platforms, if only to see, touch and feel Sunny Deol, is not the only hair-raising experience one is talking about. This one has a literal connotation too! Sunny sports a beard in a fair part of this period film, set in the times of the Partition. And rather than using a false beard, Deol decided to sport a natural one. That’s hair-raising, isn’t it?

Small Screen Before The Big Screen

Even before Miss Asia Pacific Diya Mirza makes her big-screen debut, she will face the cameras for the small screen. Diya has been pencilled in to shoot for the title track of Tips’ romantic album, ‘Khoya Khoya Chand’.

While Anupam Kher will direct the beauty in her first big-screen appearance, Om Jai Jagadish, it is choreographer Farah Khan who will call the shots in ‘Khoya Khoya Chand’. The album has ten songs rendered by Alka Yagnik and Babul Supriyo, penned by Sameer and composed by Sajid Wajid.

SPOT INTERVIEW

“There is no question of any price reduction or
increase whatsoever in the case of
CHORI CHORI CHUPKE CHUPKE”

– Court Receiver
SANTOSH SINGH JAIN

GAUTAM MUTHA

The appointment of Santosh Singh Jain as the court receiver for the release of Chori Chori Chupke Chupke is felt to be a judicious decision, by the trade. There is much relief among the distributors of the film, not only because their film will at last be released but also because Santoshji has been an expert in taking quick decisions. He has helped disentangle many knotty problems as president of the country’s strongest film body, the Central Circuit Cine Association (CCCA). Over to the grand old man of the industry.

What is the latest position about the release of CHORI CHORI CHUPKE CHUPKE?

The film’s mixing is going on and within a couple days, its first copy should be out. The film is scheduled for release on either 2nd or 9th March. Many distributors are in favour of its release on 2nd March to avail of a mid-week (Idd) holiday on 6th.

So, how will you be handling the situation vis-à-vis the distributors?

I have called upon all the distributors to come ahead with their papers/agreements and accounts. We will sort out the matters according to the documents available with them.

What about the claims from the artistes, technicians and others involved with the production?

Whoever proves his claim through proper documents shall be entitled to payment.

Has a separate bank account been opened?

Obviously! It will be operated by the court receiver, that’s me. After the recovery from the distributors and others, and disbursements therefrom, the balance will be deposited in a fixed deposit scheme. The court will decide to whom the monies should go.

Supposing the film clicks, what about the overflow money?

I don’t have to bother about that. The court has already instructed all the distributors to give undertakings that they would keep their accounts in a proper manner.

Has any of the distributors asked for price reduction due to the delay in delivery? Or, have you asked the distributors for price increase due to shortfall?

I will go purely by the agreement. There is no question of any price reduction or increase whatsoever.

Has any distributor got the film on outright basis? According to Vinay Choksey (VIP Enterprises, Bombay), he has the film on outright basis.

I have already told him to give me the agreement in support of his claim. On Tuesday (20th), I have a meeting with the solicitors to go through the agreements.

Have you engaged anyone to assist you in this matter?

I am not carrying a burden on my head that I would be in need of a person to share my burden. Anyway, the good part of being appointed the court receiver is that I am getting to learn the ropes of production insofar as the release goes.

INFORMATION MEETS

YEH RAASTE HAIN PYAAR KE
A Labour Of Love

It is a typical wintry morning in New Delhi. The only difference is that crowds outside a Mataji’s temple in New Friends Colony are getting restless. The road on which they stand is nearly jam-packed. One also notices the presence of several policemen. The crowds, of course, have gathered for darshan — though not of the Goddess. They are here to get a glimpse of two of their favourite stars — Madhuri Dixit and Ajay Devgan.

Inside the temple, the shooting of the opening sequence of Yashish Enterprises’ Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke is on in full swing. The film, Deepak Shivdasani’s ninth as director, stars Ajay Devgan, Madhuri Dixit and Preity Zinta, with Sunny Deol in a guest appearance. The scene being picturised is that of Ajay-Madhuri’s wedding. The on-screen couple has gone to school together once. Later, they have fallen out of touch, only to meet up once again at a school reunion. They have become friends again and their proximity has culminated into love. For some reason, the couple is getting married secretively, with only the officiating priest being present at the wedding.

Madhuri’s bridal look is nothing short of stunning. Her jewellery and the dress are, in one word, exquisite. Designed by Ritu Beri, the bridal outfit glimmers in enhancement of Madhuri’s gorgeous beauty. Ajay Devgan’s, on the other hand, is an understated look for the occasion. He is dressed in a sedate navy blue suit, with a pink upvastram thrown over it.

Madhuri is required to look upset during the sequence. In the next shot, she calls up her parents to inform them of the wedding. Her enraged father disowns her. The newly-wed is distraught and bursts into tears.

Producer-director Deepak Shivdasani is all smiles, happy with Madhuri’s performance. “Cut!”, he shouts. “This is the third time we are shooting this sequence,” informs he, adding, “The last time we shot it, Om Puri played Ajay Devgan’s father. Unfortunately, the film got delayed and Om Puri couldn’t give us the dates we needed. If things would have gone as we had planned, the film would have been released by now. But we had two long lay-offs from shootings — one, seven months long and another, four months. In the eleven months that we didn’t shoot the film, everyone’s dates went haywire.” And what was the cause for the delay? Deepak admits, “Partly, Raju Chacha. Anyway, when things began to move again, Om Puri was not available.”

Later, in April last year, Shivdasani erected a huge set in Bombay to shoot the same sequence. However, the heat on the set became so unbearable for the actress — what with the elaborate bridal outfit and heavy jewellery etc. — that the shooting was abandoned and set, demolished.

Finally, the sequence was completed during the present schedule at the temple in New Delhi, much to the unit members’ joy. Quips Deepak, “Everyone is so relieved, now that the sequence is canned. It is as if we’ve broken the jinx!”

Among the cast, Ajay Devgan was signed first. A lot of people felt then that his was a surprising choice, considering the fact that several of Shivdasani’s films, including his last, Bhai, starring Sunil Shetty, was a success. Shivdasani explains, “When I finished Bhai, Sunil had already signed films with Priyadarshan, Gulzar, Ram Gopal Varma and a few other makers. Also, at that time, the script of YRHPK was not complete. So, Sunil suggested that we wait for about two years. However, when I began working on this film, its subject had me excited almost immediately. At that point, I knew, I couldn’t wait for two years. As for Ajay, I had known him for a long time. He assisted me in the direction of Madam X. I also felt that he would suit the role. Hence, his presence in the cast of YRHPK.”

In the case of heroines, Shivdasani had decided to sign only those who had never been paired opposite Ajay on screen. This, so that the film had fresh casting. While there was no hitch in getting Madhuri to sign on the dotted line, it was the other heroine who remained elusive for some time.

Initially, Rani Mukerji was signed to play the role now being played by Preity Zinta. However, according to Shivdasani, she signed another film soon after the work on YRHPK, due to which a problem over dates arose. The producer-director adds, “She also seemed more keen to do Lagaan at the time. Since things between us weren’t matching, we mutually agreed to part ways.

Next, Shivdasani approached Karisma Kapoor in spite of the fact that Karisma and Ajay had been paired on screen before. Shivdasani defends his decision, “Ajay and Karisma had worked together many years ago. So, we thought, that wouldn’t make a difference. Besides, the Madhuri-Karisma combination had worked well in Dil To Pagal Hai. Hence, we opted for Karisma.” Little did Shivdasani know at that time that it was a decision he was going to regret later. As it turned out, Karisma opted out of the film. When asked why she did that, Shivdasani plainly says, “The reason why she chose to walk out of the film can be best answered by her. I was disappointed when she returned me the signing amount I had given her. She gave me the excuse that she was planning to get married. Later, of course, she denied that she was getting married.”

Eventually, the choice fell on Preity Zinta who plays an ebullient and spontaneous young girl in the film. Ajay plays dual roles in the film. The other, a car thief, falls in love with Preity who is also a thief. However, it is Madhuri who has the author-backed role. Says the actress about her role, “I play a woman who lives in a make-believe world of her own. The people surrounding her do not have the gumption to tell her to snap out of it. Her condition gets worse and she begins suffering from what is known as Traumatic Selective Amnesia.”

Seems like an original subject, one remarks, to which screenplay writer Robin Bhatt quips, “It is original. After all, it’s not my subject!” The story idea actually came to Deepak Shivdasani’s mind some twelve years ago and remained on the back-burner for all these years. He says, “The idea had germinated from L.V. Prasad’s Khilona. I had this plot, but had never got around to working on it. It so happened that, after Bhai, I was looking to remake some film, but couldn’t find one that excited me enough. One day, I was sitting with my family, discussing on what I could make next. I just happened to bounce this particular idea and everyone jumped at it. That’s how the ball was set rolling.”

Later, Shivdasani narrated the idea to a lot of people and got positive response. Finally, when Ajay gave his nod, he began working on the screenplay. For the next whole year, he just worked on the screenplay and on planning the film. Rues he, “It is unfortunate that, in spite of planning, the film got delayed.”

Shivdasani’s entire family is involved in the making of YRHPK. All seven members of his family, including his wife, his daughter and his sister-in-law, have been “integrally involved” with YRHPK. It is a labour of love for each one of them. Yeh rishte hain pyaar ke….

Turning to economics of the film, Shivdasani says, “A lot of money has gone into the making of YRHPK. It has cost me three times more than my last release, Bhai, which was made at a budget of Rs. 5.25 crore. You may be surprised to know that the entire star cast of Bhai cost me only Rs. 36 lakh. But, in the case of YRHPK, the economics is completely different.”

It is a big film for Shivdasani in more ways than one. He is looking to establishing his banner, Yashish Enterprises, with the film. To meet this goal, he has planned the smallest of details about the film way in advance, like deciding, right at the launch time, that he would not sell the film till it had been completed. He explains, “I haven’t tried to sell my film as yet. I’d rather finish the product first, show it to distributors and then, sell it. I feel, it is a wise thing to do in times when the market conditions are so bad. Given the unprecedented number of flops in the past one year, the situation is such that one cannot hike the price of his film at his whim. There are times when the distributors raise their hands and say, ‘We can’t pump in the required money.’ I know, it’s a tough decision to wait for selling it until the film is complete, but, if you ask me, it is also the best thing to do. We had planned it so right from the start. In that sense, it is a much bigger gamble one is playing this time.”

On the music side, YRHPK has seven songs, penned by Anand Bakshi and composed by Sanjeev Darshan, with the title song as well as Jo pyaar karta hai being clearly the pick of the lot. Tips will be releasing the audio in due time.

The film, which went before the cameras in June 1999, will release all over on 19th July this year.

– RAJ VAIDYA

SHOOTING COVERAGE

‘BAS ITNA SA KHWAAB HAI…’
A Dream For Its Cast & Crew

A drive towards the dark lane of Sassoon Dock, way past 8 p.m., leads us to Mukesh Mills, Colaba in South Bombay, where the shooting of Rose Movies Combine’s Bas Itna Sa Khwaab Hai… is going on in full swing. Goldie Behl, son of late Ramesh Behl, makes his directorial debut with this film. He is the writer as well as one of the lyricists of the film. A multi-faceted personality, must say. He has roped in his childhood friend, Abhishek Bachchan, to play the lead role, along with Jackie Shroff, Rani Mukerji, Sushmita Sen, Raman Lamba, Anang Desai, Himani Shivpuri, Sanjay Narvekar and Gulshan Grover.

As we reach the location, action scenes of a hundred earlier films shot at Mukesh Mills come to mind, but art director Sabu Cyril seems to have different things in mind. Like, converting the dirty interior of the mill into an amazing blue-coloured dream set. It is taking him more than seven hours to give the finishing touches to the set, we are told. And the result is mind-blowing! It resembles a typical modern-day bar-cum-dancing floor. The floor will have smoke and fire alongside, to “make it look like hell,” informs Goldie Behl.

Goldie and choreographer Ahmed Khan are all set to picturise the pre-climax song of the film on this set. The dancers are dressed in attires of various cartoon figures. Abhishek is required to don the Batman costume. Goldie explains, “To shoot this particular song, I bought a cartoon book to further authenticate my concept.”

Jackie Shroff arrives at 11.30 p.m. to give his shot. As soon as he is on the set, it’s all work and no play. He is required to hold a champagne bottle and pretend to look drunk, standing at the entrance to the dance floor. As soon as the director gives instructions to play the music, Jackie gives his lip sync to Jhoome yeh zameen, jhoome aasman. There are retakes galore, as Jackie struggles with a dance step till finally Ahmed Khan exclaims, “Jaggu-da you’re perfect.” Soon thereafter, Goldie starts to dance. No, not with joy but to explain Jackie his next shot. Ahmed Khan informs, “Goldie, too, is an amazing dancer!”

Abhishek, who is also a part of the song picturisation, is not to be seen still as his shots are to come later. Ditto for Sushmita Sen.

As the clock strikes 12 midnight, it’s time for celebration. For, it’s Jackie’s birthday. Sushmita gives the birthday boy a warm hug and plants a cute kiss on his cheek. Someone on the set asks him his age. He quips, “Sweet sixteen” and adds, “I’m a year younger than Anil Kapoor! Now, keep guessing what Anil’s age is.” He slips down memory lane, recalling the strong bonds he shares with all his co-actors, especially Anil Kapoor, Govinda and Sanjay Dutt. He has always played their elder brother in most of the films and he addresses all of them as “mera bachcha” (as in Misison Kashmir), he adds.

Jackie sounds pretty excited when we ask him about his much-dalayed Grahan. “Most probably, it will be released on 9th or 16th of Feb.,” informs the actor-producer. At which, a smart Alec quips, “Like Sunny Deol’s outburst in Damini, it is tarikh pe tarikh, tarikh pe tarikh…! This grahan doesn’t seem to end!”

Most of the shooting of Bas Itna Sa Khwaab Hai… was done in Varanasi as Abhishek plays a character hailing from the holy town. He is a young and ambitious man who has a lot of aspirations to make it big some day. As nothing works out for him in Varanasi, he decides to come to Bombay, the city of dreams. While trying to settle down in the city, he meets a college girl, played by Rani Mukerji, and he soon falls in love with her. Falling in love proves lucky for him because career-wise, good things start happening. In the meantime, he meets Jackie, a successful media baron whose right-hand lady is Sushmita Sen. Sushmita plays the ideal, strong woman of today, who is ambitious and aggressive but kindhearted. Jackie informs, “Abhishek tries to follow my footsteps. I give him all that he wants — a bungalow, car and money. All this, to tempt him.”

The aftermath, in this particular shot, is a party scene where Abhishek, after getting everything he pines for, realises that wealth is not everything. There are other priorities in life too, he learns. It’s his turbulent state of mind and the transformation he goes through, after this particular song, that forms the climax of the story. Instead of staying with Jackie and Sushmita, he goes back to Rani and a more “peaceful life, away from plain materialistic happiness”. The story sounds familiar? Oh yes, the director seems to be inspired by Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman. He accepts it albelt half-heartedly.

“All the stars of my film have pinned a lot of hope on this film,” says Goldie Behl who hopes to make a mark on debut. Abhishek, too, is looking for the elusive hit in this film. Ahmed Khan will soon be directing his own film, and so, he needs his name to be associated with success.

Goldie is the all-rounder of the film. He is the writer, director and lyricist, too. In which field will he prove a master? Goldie replies, “I want to master each one of them. Bas itna sa khwaab hai, for now!

– SUJATA CHANDA

CBFC TO HIRE PRIVATE DETECTIVES

The Central Board of Film Certification has decided to hire private detectives in the four metropolitan cities to ensure that cinemas there comply fully with the censor guidelines as well as the Cinematograph Act, 1952. The decision has been taken to strengthen the CBFC’s efforts as preventing violations like allowing minors entry for films passed for adults only, failure to prominently display the censor rating on posters outside cinema halls, and adding uncensored portions (‘bits’) in films. The decision has already been approved by the information & broadcasting ministry which has allocated Rs. 45 lakh for its implementation.

KUTCH TRADE IN DOLDRUMS
KEA WRITES TO CM

Film trade in the Gujarat and Saurashtra sub-territories of Bombay has been terribly affected by the earthquake. The situation in the Kutch region of Saurashtra, especially, is extremely grim. All twelve cinemas in the region have closed since 26th January — the day of the quake. Vishwajyoti cinema in Bhachau has been completely destroyed. Others — Vinay in Adipur; Laxmi and Vaishali in Anjar; Sur Mandir, Modern and Ravi in Bhuj; Laxmi in Mundra; Laxmi in Mandvi; Jasmine in Kandla; and Oslo and Shiv in Gandhidham — have also suffered major damage. Efforts are on by the trade to resume business activity in the region. However, the severe nature of the tragedy is making things worse. The Kutch Exhibitors Association has sought help from the state government in getting the cinemas back on their feet.

In a letter addressed to the Gujarat chief minister, the KEA has asked him to take a few relief measures while apprising him of the extent to which the cinemas are damaged. The relief measures sought are:-

i) Entertainment tax paid by the cinemas in the last two years be returned as cash aid to the cinemas;

ii) Exemption from payment of entertainment tax for the next 5 years;

iii) Removal of levies on all equipments for cinema halls; and

iv) Grant of interest-free loans by the government and banks, to cinema halls.

Even if the reliefs are given, it is not known when normalcy for the film trade will return in the forlorn region. The scars left by the quake have been so devastating that it is unlikely that people will have entertainment on their priority list for months to come.

BHARAT SHAH’S BAIL PLEA REJECTED

Film financier Bharat Shah’s bail application was rejected by the special court judge A.P. Bhangale on 7th February.

“Investigations are on and the investigating agencies have reasonable grounds to believe that the accused is a party to the offences charged against him,” the judge said. He also observed, “The accused is an influential person and he can demoralise the investigating agencies. Also, the voice tape confirms that the accused had indeed spoken to Chhota Shakeel, thus abetting the origanised crime syndicate. Hence, anticipatory or premature bail cannot be granted in such cases and I reject the bail application.”

The judge, however, added that Bharat Shah could apply for bail once the chargesheet was filed.

So far, the police has not filed a chargesheet against Shah as it is not mandatory to file one under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act. The Act provides that the accused can be kept in custody for 90 days without a chargesheet being filed, which period can be further extended.

Bharat Shah, along with his family members, was present in the court when the order was passed. He was represented by his lawyers, including V.R. Manohar, Shiraz Rahimtoola, Vibhav Krishna and Amit Desai.

In a separate development, the Enforcement Directorate on 7th February grilled Shah in regard to his hawala deals. Shah was taken by the ED to its office soon after the MCOCA court rejected his bail plea. ED counsel Arun Gupte sought his custody for four days to allow uninterrupted interrogation. However, the judge directed the ED to question him daily between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. and produce him before court after the probe ends on each day.

‘CCCC’ RELEASE: NO CLEAR PICTURE AS YET

No concrete solution has still been arrived at by the special court with regard to the release of Chori Chori Chupke Chupke. The court on 8th February, continuing its hearing in the matter, said that it may be possible to release the tainted film through a receiver to be appointed by it (court), from the film industry.

The release plan of the film was thrown in jeopardy when its negatives were seized by the crime branch of the Bombay police soon after the arrest of its producer, Nazim Rizvi, for his alleged underworld nexus. Later, presenter Bharat Shah, too, was arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act.

During the course of the hearing, when the counsels of Bharart Shah objected to the release of the film by the court, saying that the state did not have the necessary infrastructure to release it, judge A.P. Bhangale wondered aloud whether he could appoint anyone from among the famous personalities in the industry.

The public prosecutor, Rohini Salian, opposing the release tooth and nail, said it could be done only after the police investigations were completed. She also added that there were some doubts on the issue of Overseas territorial rights of CCCC.

Earlier, the court had sought to appoint the chief secretary as court receiver. Bharat Shah’s counsels argued that release of the film through a court receiver would cause prejudice since he would not have the necessary expertise. They also said that an expense of Rs. 2.5 crore needed to be made for the release and questioned who would bear the same. The judge thereupon asked for names of industry persons from among whom a receiver could be appointed.

The judge also heard the film’s Overseas distributors, Eros International, which urged him to have the film released as early as possible as its pirated video cassettes, according to them (Eros), were already in circulation. However, the public prosecutor said, the Overseas territory was under investigation and the conversations intercepted also mentioned the name of Overseas distributor Kishore Lulla of Eros.

Meanwhile, rumours were rife in the industry on 9th February that Mahesh Bhatt had been appointed receiver by the court.

HANIF KADAWALA SHOT DEAD

Producer and India video rights distributor Hanif Kadawala (of the Hanif-Samir duo) was shot dead on 7th February at Bandra, Bombay. Three armed men are reported to have fired at Hanif from point-blank range. He was rushed to the nearby Bhabha Hospital but he was declared dead on arrival. The shootout is believed by the police to be the handiwork of underworld don Chhota Rajan.

Hanif, along with Samir Hingora, had produced Baap Numbri Beta Dus Numbri, Dil Hi To Hai and Sanam. His Singer is yet to be released.

Hanif and Samir were accused in the 1993 Bombay bomb blasts case. Hanif was currently out on bail alongwith Samir.

EXHIBITOR-MEMBERS OF CCCA TO DONATE FOR GUJARAT QUAKE VICTIMS

The Central Circuit Cine Association (CCCA), at a meeting of its executive committee held on 3rd February in Indore under the presidentship of Santosh Singh Jain, passed a resolution advising its member-cinema houses to donate the net collections of 15th February to the chief minister’s relief fund in the respective state of the central circuit. The Central Circuit comprises Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and the Vidarbha and Khandesh regions of Maharashtra. The net collections of the day will go towards the relief and rehabilitation of victims of the earthquake in Gujarat.

The CCCA has advised its exhibitor-members to make the payment by bank draft in favour of the chief minister’s relief fund. The bank draft is to be submitted to the collector of the district with an intimation to the chief minister of the concerned state and the CCCA.

SEVEN ARRESTED IN RAIDS ON NAGPUR VIDEO PARLOURS

The crime branch of Nagpur police recently swooped on four video parlours in Nagpur and seized thousands of CDs and video cassettes of Hindi and English films, including cassettes of 16 hard-porn films, along with television sets and video cassette recorders. The properties seized are estimated to be worth Rs. 7 lakh. Seven persons were arrested. Cases were registered against them under sec. 292 read with sec. 63 of the Copyright Act. Those arrested include Radha Kishan Punyani, Ajay Punyani, Manoj Thakkar, Jugal Kumar Agrawal and Praveen Rattewar. The raids were carried out on a tip-off by K.K. Sawhney, convenor of Cine Exhibitors’ Association, Nagpur.

YOU ASKED IT

Many of the titles of forthcoming films are being used by makers of television serials. This robs a new film of its title value. These days, when finding a good and suitable title is so difficult, what is the way out to avoid this unethical ‘title piracy’?

– No way out, till film and TV producers sit on the issue together.

How can one determine good cinematography?

– The basic thing is that the visuals should be pleasing to the eyes.

Which was the first Hindi film to celebrate silver jubilee?

– AMRIT MANTHAN, which was released in 1934. It was produced by Prabhat Talkies and directed by V. Shantaram.

Slow Flow Deals A Bodyblow

So slow is the flow of forthcoming releases that even films, which would not have generated any excitement among exhibitors in the ordinary course, are today bringing smiles on their lips just and only just with the sealing of their release dates. One postponement, and cinemas across the nation are in a mourning mood. One confirmation of a star-cast release, and they heave sighs of relief.

A Delhi-U.P. distributor, who was recently in Bombay to attend a filmland wedding, returned to Delhi with ‘inside information’ that at least three films, which were scheduled for early release, had been postponed. That was enough to spread panic to last a couple of days in the trade in the capital city. Things have come to such a pass that release dates are now being ‘chased’ by exhibitors like mirages in a desert by the thirsty.

To add to the woes of the already suffering tribe of exhibitors is the poor quality of films released of late. No film, released in the last 15 weeks, has been able to sustain at the box-office. Resultantly, those who are benefitting from the present scenario are the distributors. They have been able to screen their films at terms which are clearly disproportionately advantageous to them as against the cinemas, the latter being forced to pay through their nose, because the only other option available to them is to remain closed. 

Which brings us to the point of weekend cinema, as it happens in Hollywood. Will the year 2001 be witness to cinemas in India, too, remaining shut on weekdays (maybe, for all shows or for the daytime shows) and conducting shows on weekends only? It is quite possible that some exhibitors may find it more cost-effective to keep cinemas closed for some days in the week than to run them every day, as at present.

Some people think, smaller films are the answer to this problem. Small films without big stars will be made faster, they argue, and there’ll be many more producers willing to risk limited amounts of money on such projects, they feel. But it hardly seems likely that smaller films will be able to ease the situation. For, will the small films be able to bear the burden of the prohibitively high admission rates? The answer is “no”. 

The question which then arises is: What is the solution?

Any answer? They’d be more than welcome from you.

– Komal Nahta

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Small Producer, Big Music Company, Bigger Ghotala

The games some people play can leave you astounded. A leading music company is making a fortune by selling the music cassettes of a recently released regional language (non-Hindi) film, but it has not yet paid a single naya paisa to its small and new producer. The gullible producer signed the agreement with the music company, for sale of his music rights but the signed agreement was sent outstation by the company under the pretext of getting it signed by its managing director. It is more than three months now but the agreement still eludes the simpleton producer. So also the cheque which is equally elusive. So while the producer hasn’t got so much as a signing amount, the music company is filling its coffers because the film’s music has become a rage. It is also alleged that soon after the music became a craze, the company’s top officers hiked the price of the cassette and, simultaneously, flooded the market with pirated copies of the film’s audio cassettes. Resultantly, even the company is now losing money as its officers continue to earn by dubious means.

Celebrating A Flop!

We’ve heard of filmmakers celebrating the success of their film, but celebrating a flop?!? Well, that’s what the director of a recent debacle did — he threw a party. The director hosted a small party for close friends on the day his latest film hit the screens recently. Looking to the encouraging collections on the opening day, the over-enthusiastic director lost no time in arranging an impromptu party that very day to celebrate, what he thought was, the film’s success. But on the very next day, the collections came crashing down. It was then that realisation dawned upon the director that the good collections on the opening day had nothing to do with his film but everything to do with the public holiday on Friday.

So ultimately, it turned out to be the celebration of a flop.

A ‘Site’ To Behold!

Poonam Dhillon launched her personal website, <www.poonamdhillon.com> on 7th February in Bombay. The website highlights the early days — in Chandigarh — of Poonam who went on to win a beauty crown before being launched by Yash Chopra in Noorie; a quick look into her personal life; her family and friends; the Vanity make-up van which she pioneered in the Bombay film industry; and some unpublished photographs of herself. The website also offers an array of greeting cards, free medical helpline backed by Dr. Rishma Pai and Dr. Harishi Pai (Poonam’s sister and brother-in-law), a section for kids’ entertainment, recipes, fashion, charity, an Agony Aunt section etc. Poonam is also writing a book which she hopes to release online on her site.

The party to celebrate the foray of Poonam into the World Wide Web was a well-attended affair. The site was launched by none other than Yash Chopra, the man who also launched Poonam herself.

Tracinema: From TV To Cinema

Tracinema, one of the bigger television software production companies, has branched out into film production. Raman Kumar and Vinta Nanda, whose Tara on Zee TV was, for several years, the longest-running soap, launched their first film, Aur Phirr…., this week with a song recording at Spectral Harmony.

Raman, besides producing the film, is also directing it from a story by partner Vinta Nanda. Coming back to the song, it was Jaspinder Narula who lent her voice to it under the baton of music director Aadesh Shrivastava, with percussionist Sivamani on the drums. The cast of Aur Phirr…. is being finalised.

One Title, Two Claimants

Even before the debut film of hero-producer-director Sohail Khan (brother of Salman Khan) and heroine Sameera Reddy has gone before the cameras, it is shrouded in a controversy over its title. While producers Bunty Walia and Sohail Khan claim that Maine Dil Tujhko Diya is the title of the film, producer and Bengal distributor Sanjay Roy has the same title registered in his favour with the title registration committee of the IMPPA. “Maine title tujhko nahin diya,” seems to be Sanjay’s refrain to Walia and Sohail these days. Why, he has already taken up the matter with the IMPPA. On the other hand, the producer-duo seems to be quite unperturbed by the claim of Sanjay Roy. In the spirit of their previous films, they seem to be telling Roy, “Hello brother, title liya toh darna kya!”

Incidentally, Sohail-Walia’s film is to be launched on Valentine’s Day (February 14).

KASOOR

Vishesh Entertainment Ltd.’s Kasoor (A) is a murder mystery. A rich and famous newspaper editor’s wife is murdered and the police frames him for it. The police officer, who has an axe to grind with the editor, arrests him but he is released on bail. Rather than hiring the top lawyers of the country, the editor appoints a lady lawyer to argue his case in the court of law. This lady lawyer also hates the concerned police officer for having earlier fooled her with false evidence which had led her to win a case in her capacity as a public prosecutor but at the cost of getting an innocent man hanged to death.

The mystery deepens as the lawyer receives anonymous letters, guiding her to witnesses who would help save the editor from being convicted. Even while the case is going on, the lawyer is charmed by her client, the editor, and finds herself madly in love with him. They have physical relations too. After a long-drawn courtroom drama, she wins the case. But that’s not the end of the story. Rather, it is just the beginning of another gory story for the gullible lady lawyer.

The film moves at a slow pace in the first half and has several boring and even illogical moments. It is only after interval that the drama picks up but even then, the film doesn’t have universal appeal. Remake of the English film, Jagged Edge, it has more than a fair share of flaws in its screenplay (Mahesh Bhatt). A sample of the weak scripting: the lady lawyer, on being told by the journalist that he is innocent, chides him, saying that before taking up a case, she invariably satisfies herself about the innocence or otherwise of her client. A couple of scenes later, she is shown warning the journalist not to hide any facts from her, implying thereby that she has no option but to believe his claim of innocence. Some time later, she tells her boyfriend that, being a lawyer, it was her duty to protect her client even if he was guilty. But when she had set out to take up his case — after much reluctance — she had confided in her boyfriend that she was taking it up only because she hoped, she could save the innocent journalist and thereby repay for the terrible wrong she had done by getting an innocent guy hanged to death earlier. So, at one time, she is shown as being very conscientious and at another, downright self-centred and anything but conscientious. Again, much later, she decides to leave her client midway only because she feels, there was another girl in his life. In short, the lady lawyer’s character is that of a ridiculously imbalanced mind!

If there’s no exciting suspense built, it is because the film begins from the point of murder. The journalist and his wife’s relationship is not established beforehand but unfolds only as the drama progresses. Obviously, it has been done for the sake of convenience in building suspense and not pointing the needle of suspicion towards the real murderer. The climax looks too contrived from the moment the lady lawyer tries to rob the journalist’s car keys instead of plainly and simply running for dear life! The arguments in the courtroom because of which at least three witnesses crumble under pressure, are quite childish.

Aftab Shivdasani does an utterly average job and fails to evoke either sympathy or hatred for himself, all through the time it is not known who the murderer is. Lisa Ray is an expressionless beauty. She makes a terrific attempt to act but fails terribly. Except in the climax and a couple of courtroom scenes, she is wooden. Her voice has been effectively dubbed by Divya Dutta. Apoorva Agnihotri is fair. Ashutosh Rana is truly effective as the scheming police officer. Divya Dutta acts ably. Irfan Khan is alright. Vishwajeet Pradhan is natural. Sucheta Pawse, Prithvi Zutshi, Kurush Deboo and the others provide reasonable support.

Vikram Bhatt’s direction is quite immature. He tries to camouflage the weaknesses of the script by snazzy takings. Dialogues (Girish Dhamija) impress at a couple of places only. Nadeem Shravan’s music is very melodious but the impact of the lovely music is lost, to a large extent, because of ordinary song situations and owing to some of them being dream/background songs. Cinematography (Pravin Bhatt) is beautiful. Background score (Daboo Malik) is effective in dramatic scenes. Action is functional. Editing is anything but crisp. Whereas a murder mystery ought to be fast-paced, this film is too slow to be true.

On the whole, Kasoor is a weak fare with only a very low price as its salvaging point for circuits like Bombay and South. Opening in U.P. was also good.

Released on 2-2-2001 at Maratha Mandir, Metro (matinee) and 11 other cinemas of Bombay thru Ahuja Films. Publicity & opening: good. …….Also released all over. Opening was not upto the mark in East Punjab, Bengal and Rajasthan.

‘MOR CHHAINHA BHUINYA’ SCORES A TON

Puran Entertainments’ Mor Chhainha Bhuinya (Chhattisgarhi) has created history in the newly-formed Chhattisgarh state and surrounding regions by celebrating 100 days today (February 3) at Raipur, Durg and Bilaspur. Satish Jain, who makes his debut as director with this phenomenal hit, is also the film’s story, screenplay and dialogue-writer. Produced by Shivdayal Jain, it stars Shekhar Soni, Anuj, Poonam, Jagruti Rai, Nisha Gautam, Ashish Shendre and Manmohan Singh Thakur. Music, which is a big hit, is by Babla Bagchi and lyrics, by Laxman Masturiya and Vinay Bihari.

This is the third Chhattisgarhi film. The first two were made 35 years ago, in B & W. Mor Chhainha Bhuinya is the first colour Cinemascope Chhattisgarhi film. Having completed 100 days in Raipur, Durg and Bilaspur, it is now heading towards 100 days at Bhilai, Rajnandgaon, Korba, Dhamtari, Shakti and Ambikapur (which is not in Chhattisgarh).

NAGPUR CRIME BRANCH RAIDS TWO VIDEO PARLOURS

The crime branch of Nagpur police recently carried out raids on two local video parlours, under the supervision of DCP Kulwant Kumar and ACP Sunil Phulari. Pirated VCDs of films like Kurukshetra, Mohabbatein, Fiza, Dhadkan, Farz, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, Zubeidaa, Taal, Josh, Champion, Astitva, Khiladi 420, Hera Pheri, Mission Kashmir, Saali Poori Gharwali and hundreds of VCDs of English films alongwith TV sets, VCRs and duplicators were seized. The property seized is estimated to be worth Rs. 2.50 lakh. The police arrested Vashishtha Mishra of Sharda Video Parlour and Prakash Waman Chafle of Mahalaxmi Video Parlour.

The raids were carried out at the instance of K.K. Sawhney who is the convenor of the Cine Exhibitors Association, Nagpur.

‘TERA JADOO CHAL GAYAA’ SILVER JUBILEE

Producer Vashu Bhagnani’s Tera Jadoo Chal Gayaa entered 25th combined week on 2nd February at New Excelsior (matinee), Bombay. The film, starring Abhishek Bachchan, Keerthi Reddy, Sanjay Suri, Kader Khan, Paresh Rawal, Himani Shivpuri, Johny Lever and Farida Jalal, is directed and edited by A. Muthu. Writer: Ikram Akhtar. Music: Ismail Darbar. Lyrics: Sameer. Cinematography: Santosh Thundiyil.

‘MOHABBATEIN’ SCORES A CENTURY!

Yash Chopra’s Mohabbatein, written and directed by Aditya Chopra, entered 100th day today (3rd February) at Liberty, Bombay, and in Ahmedabad, Baroda, Solapur, Pune and other centres of Bombay circuit, in Delhi-U.P., West Bengal, C.P. Berar, C.I, and Nizam. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Uday Chopra, Shamita Shetty, Jugal Hansraj, Kim Sharma, Jimmy Shergill, Preeti Jhangiani and Anupam Kher with Amrish Puri and Shefali Chhaya in guest appearances. Music: Jatin Lalit. Lyrics: Anand Bakshi. Cinematography: Manmohan Singh. Choreography: Farah Khan. Art: Sharmishtha Roy.

‘MISSION KASHMIR’ 100 DAYS

Vinod Chopra Productions’ Mission Kashmir entered 100th day today (3rd February) at Novelty (matinee), Bombay. Produced and directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, the film stars Sanjay Dutt, Hrithik Roshan, Preity Zinta, Jackie Shroff, Sonali Kulkarni and Puru Raaj Kumar in a guest appearance. Story-screenplay: Abhijat Joshi, Suketu Mehta, Vikram Chandra and Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Music: Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. Lyrics: Rahat Indori and Sameer. Cinematography: Binod Pradhan. Art: Nitin Desai. Editing: Rajkumar Hirani. Action: Allan Amin. Choreography: Saroj Khan and Rekha Chinni Prakash.

RELEASE OF ‘CCCC’
MCOCA Court Asks State To File Reply

The Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court on January 30 directed the government of Maharashtra to file its reply on film financier Bharat Shah’s claim on the seized negatives of Chori Chori Chupke Chupke. The police had seized the negatives of the film after the arrest of its producer, Nazim Rizvi, on 13th December. Shah had sought an injunction from the court, restraining the police from interfering with the release of the film and its negatives.

At the last hearing, judge A.P. Bhangale, satisfied that third party rights had been created, directed issue of notices to its 13 distributors, music company Universal and state chief secretary. The distributors of various territories were present in the court on 30th January. Under-secretary R.V. Nalawade’s request for a week’s time to file a para-wise reply was granted. The matter was posted to 2nd February.

The counsels for the distributors submitted that they had acquired the distribution rights through agreements entered into with Mega Bollywood Limited, a company in which Bharat Shah was a director.

The counsels for the distributors said that prejudice shall be caused by any further delay in the release of the film since the pirated copies of its video cassettes were already in circulation in Pakistan. These copies can also come to India and by the time the film is released, there will be less attendance in the cinemas, thus causing severe financial loss, the counsels for the distributors pointed out.

The counsels further said that if delay was caused due to the state seeking time, the state should be liable to compensate for the losses suffered. Special public prosecutor Rohini Salian said that the state had to ascertain certain facts. The counsels countered that the state government ought to be aware of the complete facts since it is the police which is investigating the matter.

Shah’s counsels reiterated that Mega Bollywood Limited are the world rights controllers who have paid approximately Rs. 12.50 crore to the producers through an agreement. His counsels opposed the state’s claim of attachment and the release of the film through the court receiver, saying that Mega Bollywood Limited was a separate legal entity from its members. They said that severe losses would occur if the film was released through the court receiver.

Universal Music, which had purchased the music rights of CCCC at Rs. 2.60 crore and has been selling its music, urged the court to not put an injunction on the music sales as that could cause losses and encourage music piracy.

HEARING BEGINS ON BHARAT SHAH’S BAIL PLEA

V.R. Manohar, senior counsel for film financier and diamond merchant Bharat Shah, told the special MCOCA court on 2nd February that the entire intercepted material against his client was obtained in “violation of the provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA)”. The senior counsel made this submission during the hearing on Shah’s bail application before the designated judge, A.P. Bhangale. Manohar said that the only incriminating evidence against Shah, which the police claimed to have, was an alleged telephonic conversation, dated 27th October, 2000, between him and Chhota Shakeel. The police had obtained authorisation to intercept calls on 23rd October under the Indian Telegraph Act and not as per provisions of the MCOCA, he added.

He further said that the first interception, out of the nine mentioned by the police in its FIR and subsequent remand applications, was dated 27th October. The senior counsel asked whether there was an interception dated 27th October and, if so, whether it was authorised by the ITA or whether it was a tape handed over by Nazim Rizvi (producer of Chori Chori Chupke Chupke) or whether the police had obtained it from somewhere else. There was no reference to Shah in any other telephonic conversation, as alleged by the police, except in the one dated 27th October, V.R. Manohar pointed out. He also said that there was no name of any applicant as mentioned in the FIR copy nor was there any reference made in its entire text nor was any panchnama made for any conversation dated 27th October in the FIR.

The senior counsel will continue with his arguments on 5th February.

BHARAT SHAH REMANDED TO JUDICIAL CUSTODY

Film financier and Bombay distributor Bharat Shah was on 1st February remanded to judicial custody by the special court in Bombay, until 14th February. He had been arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act on 8th January for his alleged underworld nexus in the financing of Chori Chori Chupke Chupke. The film’s producer, Nazim Rizvi, who was arrested a few days before Shah, was also remanded to judicial custody until 14th February.

Bharat Shah’s bail application, which was to be heard on 1st, was heard on 2nd instead, as his council, V.R. Manohar, was busy in another court on 1st. A bomb scare in the high court delayed the hearing.

…….

YOU ASKED IT

If banks do decide to finance a film, what things will the banks consider as security — producers’ assets or his film’s negative?

– Maybe, only the film’s negative. 

Why is script-doctoring not a success in India?

– Because producers lack vision, and writers and directors have fat egos.

In the Hindi film music market, what is the percentage share of non-film music, like pop songs, devotional songs, ghazals etc.

– About 15-20%.

How come, Adhikari Brothers have not thought of re-releasing their Bhookamp in the wake of the quake?

– Public has no bhookh for such gimmicks when the film in question is poor.

3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment

Quake Relief?

Looking to the havoc the earthquake of 26th January has created in the state of Gujarat, it will be months before business in the Gujarat and Saurashtra sub-territories of Bombay circuit returns to normalcy. Distributors of Bombay are expected to ask producers for price reductions in the case of forthcoming films. In the immediate future, of course, the losses to distributors and exhibitors of Bombay/Gujarat/Saurashtra are going to be very heavy.

Roshans Donate Rs. 21 lakh For Earthquake Victims

Hrithik Roshan accompanied his father, Rakesh Roshan, when he called on Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on 1st February to hand over a cheque of Rs. 21 lakh in aid of the earthquake victims in Gujarat. “Hrithik was to perform in a charity show for the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund on 3rd February in Delhi. Unfortunately, the show has been postponed due to unavoidable circumstances,” informs Rakesh Roshan. He adds, “In any case, we wanted to help the victims in our individual capacity, too. While we understand that money cannot wipe out the losses of so many lives, we hope and pray that our contribution helps remove at least some of the physical hardships faced by the victims.”

A Shower Of Melody

If one song of Lagaan (the Megha number) Information heard, is any indication, producer Aamir Khan has a winner in his music. The pre-monsoon song is beautifully tuned by A.R. Rahman and has a very exciting thing about it, heightened further by its immensely likeable picturisation (choreographed by Raju Khan). The magic on the viewer starts as soon as the song begins, such is the impact! Aamir will release the audio cassettes of his maiden production venture on 6th April. The film itself will hit the screens on 1st June even though its copy will be out as early as in April.

INFORMATION MEETS

‘LAGAAN’: Once upon a time in Bhuj….

– a devastated AAMIR KHAN on the
havoc created in the town which
was his home for 6 months in 2000

GAUTAM MUTHA & KOMAL NAHTA

Aamir Khan is a very sad man today. Having shot his entire Lagaan in Bhuj (in Gujarat), the charming-actor-turned-charismatic producer has taken the news of the devastation caused by the recent earthquake to the entire Bhuj town very personally.

“We’ve lived with the locals there for six months — from January to June 2000,” said Aamir with a deep sense of gratitude now mixed with sorrow. He added, “We worked like one big family. And today, I have no information about how they are, in what condition they are, what they need urgently. (After this interview was taken on 30th January, Aamir has learnt that almost all whom he knew in Bhuj are alive but their houses have been reduced to rubble.) My entire staff is just sitting in front of the television, watching the news about the tragedy. We are also constantly trying to contact our friends in Bhuj over telephone but since the lines are all down, we are still clueless about their well-being.”

Not the one to just sit helplessly, Aamir rushed his production guys to Bhuj on 30th January to enquire after those they were close to. He explained, “My guys will also contact the local organisation there, which is engaged in the work of disbursing money, food and clothing to the quake-affected. I could have sent a cheque to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund, but the loss — of whatever magnitude if may be — has been like a personal loss to me.”

Aamir Khan plans to himself go to Bhuj as soon as his production people inform him that the necessary arrangements have been made for disbursement of goods and cash. Said Aamir, “I want to personally hand over whatever my friends and their families there need, with my own hands.”

The conscientious actor-producer has decided to personally donate Rs. 25 lakh for the cause. “Generous contributions are also coming in from all the unit members,” informed the affable actor. “Everyone in the unit wants to contribute his bit. Even the spot-boys have expressed a keen desire to help with whatever they can afford.”

Going in flashback mode, Aamir recalled how very co-operative and helpful the locals had been all through the six months of shooting and four months before that when the sets were being constructed. “I don’t recall having faced a single problem during our entire stay,” he said. “The people of Bhuj lead a very tough life, they have to often cope with drought situations, yet they are the softest people I’ve known.”

Talking of the contribution of the people of Bhuj and surrounding areas in front of the camera, Aamir said that of the 200 junior artistes in the film, only 50 had been taken to Bhuj from Bombay. “The remaining 150 were from the local theatre groups of Bhuj and the commoners there.” Elaborating further, Aamir added, “And the junior artistes are not junior artistes in my film. Each of them is a character. For instance, the role of Raj Zutshi’s wife is played by a local girl. She may not have a single dialogue in the film but she is there by Zutshi’s side all along in the film.

“We knew half the people by their first names. It is frightening to think in what state they might be.” Lagaan has several British actors too and they’ve been calling Aamir’s office from abroad to enquire after the well-being of the Bhuj people. The foreign actors have also very considerately volunteered to help financially.

So emotionally overcome was Aamir that he volunteered to show us a song from the film to drive home the point of the immense contributions of the people of Bhuj to his film. The Megha song is a joyous number in which the entire parched village (Lagaan has a village backdrop) dances on sighting the first clouds of the season, in the hope that it would rain soon. On his personal computer screen, Aamir paused the pictures at regular intervals and pointed out to the large number of locals dancing in the song.

That the song is an exceptional number composed by A.R. Rahman is beside the point. In normal circumstances, a producer would be thrilled when told that his song is a hit number. But the pain in Aamir’s heart was too palpable to make him appreciate our genuine fondness for the song.

Aamir’s cousin, director Mansoor Khan, too, was keen to donate his mite for the quake victims, together with the Lagaan team, but Aamir advised him to use one of the traditional channels. “I told Mansoor, we will not be able to give him the tax benefits which one derives from donating to charitable organisationas. I don’t mind paying the tax on my contribution, so we aren’t going to apply for exemption and all that,” explained the actor.

Talking of his stay in Bhuj for six months, Aamir rued, “Today, our guys, who’ve gone to Bhuj, called up to say that the apartment in which the entire unit was staying had been reduced to rubble.” Aamir had rented an entire building which had been newly constructed. In place of that building where Aamir, director Ashutosh Gowariker, art director Nitin Desai and the other cast and crew of Lagaan ate, drank and slept, is today just mounds of debris. “On the sets, we used to eat and chat with the locals like they were part of our family. I used to often smoke with them.”

About the film, Aamir informed that he was amused when a section of the press reported that he had gone in for heavy re-shooting. “I’ve not reshot for a single day,” he smiled. Nor had Aamir ever planned to release the film either on Diwali last year or Idd this year. Describing it as a film which deals with the problem of tax (lagaan) as it existed in British India, the actor stressed that it was a completely commercial film. Just because the story is based in drought-stricken Bhuj, Aamir dispelled fears that the film would turn out to be a dry fare. It is a love triangle with a lot of emotional content and humour thrown in. Gracy Singh and Rachel Shelly are his two love interests in the film.

Aamir discarded rumours that Lagaan was his baby. “It is totally Ashutosh’s baby, I’m only the producer and hero,” he emphasised, adding, “It’s the most exciting story I’ve heard, and I don’t say this because it is my film.” The actor had no problem whatsoever with his music director, A.R. Rahman, whose late-night working hours are known to have irked several filmmakers. “I too like working in the nights,” informed Aamir. “So there was no problem on that count. Otherwise also, I used to attend the music sittings only when the tunes were almost finalised. As I said, the film is only Ashutosh’s creatively.”

When asked what price he expected for the distribution rights, Aamir revealed that irrespective of the ratio, “For an honest distributor, I’m prepared to make concessions. As an actor, I used to feel bad if my film did not make money for the producer and distributors. I used to interpret that as my failure. The same principle applies even now that I have turned a producer. I want that every single distributor of mine should make money on the film, otherwise I will have failed them.” The actor-producer has started finalising deals only now, from last month. Although Jhamu Sughand is the presenter of the film, dealing with the distributors is Aamir’s domain. So far, Aamir has finalised his distributors for Bombay and Nizam.

Lagaan has been totally shot in sync-dubbing. Which means, the original sound, recorded whilst the film was shot, will be used in the final copy, obviating the necessity for dubbing all the dialogues after shooting. Lagaan should, perhaps, be the first commercial Hindi film to have been shot using the sync-dubbing technique which, according to Aamir, “is much more expensive than dubbing the dialogues later”. Aamir went in for sync-dubbing as it “captures the ambience of the scene and also brings in the right emotions”.

Talking of emotions, Aamir also emphasised that emotions were a very strong point of Lagaan. “No film can succeed unless there’s an underlying emotional point. The seed of Lagaan is very emotional.”

Little had Aamir known that the emotional tale called Lagaan would test his and his unit’s emotional strength even before the film was released, with a national calamity that has hit Bhuj so hard. Recounting the deal he had struck with the farmers on whose land he erected the set of an entire village, he explained, “I asked the farmers how much they earned every year from their agricultural produce and I gave them the entire amount before I started construction of the set on their land. I also employed them for the set construction and as junior artistes in my film — so they earned more than they would have in any year. And last year, too, was a year of drought, so they had what they earned from us, to tide over their bad times.”

But one wonders how many of them are alive today. It’s rather eerie but the catchline of Aamir Khan’s period film, Laagan, set in pre-Independence India, reads: ‘Once upon a time in India’. With a large part of Bhuj being buried by the quake, it almost appears like it was also meant to read: ‘Once upon a time in Bhuj…..’