(From our issue dated 23rd July, 1994)
KRANTIVEER
Mehul Movies Pvt. Ltd.’s Krantiveer (UA) is the story of the efforts of a carefree man of the street and a lady-journalist to combat communal violence and awaken people to rise above communal differences. The journalist is always ready to fight for the cause of a common man, while the man couldn’t care less even though he is fully aware of what’s happening. Circumstances and the journalist’s constant endeavour to discipline him bring out the revolutionary in him and then, there’s no stopping him.
Although the story is not new, it has a very lively and different character in its hero who first mocks at people with his sarcastic dialogues and then erupts like a volcano when instigated beyond limit. It is this character, etched out by the writer, and its excellent portrayal by the hero that make the film a differently enjoyable fare.
There is some romance too, but it only serves to add some glamour. The drama becomes dull at places where Nana is absent.
The film has three heroes – Nana Patekar, writer K.K. Singh and Mehul Kumar. K.K. Singh has laboured a lot in scripting the drama and although the drama has a sermonising effect at some places, the overall impact is good and even stunning at many places. Dialogues are brilliant, hard-hitting and topical, and a major highlight. Another highlight is hero Nana Patekar’s performance. Cent percent marks to Nana for getting into the skin of the character and delivering a performance that is so wonderful that the audience cannot help falling in love with him. He makes one laugh, cry, think – and, of course, admire him. Director Mehul Kumar has handled the subject well. His narration is effective. Special mention must be made of the mob scenes that have been excellently shot.
Dimple Kapadia does a fine job as the journalist. Atul Agnihotri is quite good. Mamta Kulkarni has no scope except to add sex appeal and she does so reasonably well. Danny Denzongpa leaves an impact and is natural to the core. Paresh Rawal is extraordinary and plays the good-hearted man with a rare sensitiveness. Ishrat Ali is able. Farida Jalal is effective. Tinnu Anand, Mushtaq Khan, Bindu, Vikas Anand, Shafi Inamdar, Mahesh Anand, Ram Mohan, Girish Malik, Sujit Kumar and the others lend adequate support.
A couple of songs are quite good but there’s not a single hit number. Photography and other technical values are of standard. Action scenes are quite thrilling.
On the whole, Krantiveer has the ingredients to emerge a big winner and the potential to prove class ‘A’. Business in Maharashtra will be the best.
Released on 22-7-’94 at Dreamland and 26 other cinemas of Bombay thru B.R.A. Corporation. Publicity & opening: excellent. Also released all over. Opening was very impressive everywhere.
DO YOU KNOW?
* B. Nagi Reddy’s BHAIRAVDWEEP is doing roaring business in Tamil too, in which it has been dubbed from Telugu. It was released with 30 prints in Tamil Nadu last week and it fared exceptionally well despite five new Tamil releases.
* 1942 A LOVE STORY has created a theatre record by collecting 1,56,940/- in 1st week at Smruti, Nagpur. It was screened at tax-free rates from fifth day onwards.
* 1942 A LOVE STORY has created a record by collecting 84,500/- (against a capacity of 89,000/-) in 1st week at Asha, Imphal (Assam).
* MOHRA has created new records by yielding the following shares in 3 weeks: Rajkot 4,05,000/-, Jaihind, Morbi 2,44,000/-, Modern, Bhuj 1,90,000/-.
* MOHRA has created a city record by collecting 99,730/- in 3rd week at Seema, Aligarh. 3 weeks’ total: 3,62,475/-, city record.
* MOHRA has created a city record by collecting 10,722/- on the opening day at Aarti, Wardha.
* MOHRA has created a city record by collecting 84,215/- in 3rd week at Prabhat, Raipur.
* MOHRA has created a city record by collecting 2,14,014/- (gross) in 1st week and another city record by collecting 1,62,025/- (gross) in 2nd week at Ajanta, Ajmer.
* SAAJAN KA GHAR has yielded a fantastic distributor’s share of 93,000/- in 4 weeks from Balaghat (C.P. Berar), thereby surpassing the shares of such hits as AANKHEN (50,000/-), LAADLA (62,000/-) and ANARI (85,000/-). Its week-wise collections are: 1st 53,767/-, 2nd 47,762/-, 3rd 46,642/-, and 4th (6 days) 22,525/- (in spite of heavy rains). Total: 1,70,696/-.
* JURASSIC PARK (Hindi), which is celebrating 100 days today (23rd July), has created a record of sorts by having been screened at the following main cinemas of Bombay: Maratha Mandir, Liberty, Naaz, Dreamland, Alankar (3 weeks) and Minerva (opened this week).
* PHOOL AUR KAANTE (r.r.) has created a city record by collecting 12,050/- in 1st week at Ramavtar Talkies, Nagar (district Bharatpur), in spite of heavy rains.
* TIRANGAA (tax-free) has grossed the highest collection (67,558/-) ever grossed by a repeat-run film in a week’s run at Naveen, Mirzapur (U.P.).
* BEERA BEGO AAYEEJE RE (R.) has created a city record for Rajasthani films by collecting 71,128/- in 1st week (28 shows) at Plaza, Ajmer.
* EKA PEKSHA EK (M., TF, r.r.) has created a theatre record by collecting 53,468/- in 2nd week at Bharatmata, Bombay. Police had to be called in to control the crowds on Ashadhi Ekadashi day. Eight prints are engaged in 3rd week, a record.
YOU ASKED IT
How much business is Mohra expected to do?
– Over 2 crore per major territory.
Pursuant to the meeting of the ministers of various states, in Delhi recently, is there a move to reduce entertainment tax?
– The Madhya Pradesh government is inclined towards reducing entertainment tax. This was also made clear at the function held this week in Bombay by the industry to felicitate the Madhya Pradesh cultural affairs minister.
How is the India video market after the industry’s decision to release video cassettes two weeks after the theatrical release?
– Video distributors are not striking deals. They are waiting and watching.
SNAPSHOTS
SKY-HIGH PRICES
Where are prices going? Producer Gordhanbhai, who has reportedly signed Indra Kumar to direct a film for him, at a phenomenal price, is quoting 1.25 crore as his film’s ratio. It stars Aamir Khan and Ajay Devgan. Ketan Desai has priced his untitled film, to be directed by David Dhawan, at 1 khokha. Likewise, Boney Kapoor is asking for 1 for his Prem which will be brother Sanjay Kapoor’s first release.
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HOT SUB-TERRITORIES
The days of the tukdaa are here. It is one or the other tukdaa (sub-territory) in every circuit that is hot and because of which prices of films are zooming up. In Bombay, it is Gujarat and Saurashtra that are very hot. It is Bihar in the Eastern circuit, and Rajasthan in the C.P.C.I. circuit. Nizam is quite hot in the South. East Punjab itself is hot for action-oriented films. So, it is the age of tukdaas. Is that why Chaand Kaa Tukdaa has suddenly become hot among distributors?
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CONTENT & FORM
Mukul Anand may be the first director who has not attended story-sittings and music-sittings of his film, Trimurti. That is handled by producer Subhash Ghai. Mukul, who is frank to admit that his films have lacked in content, says, “In Trimurti, I execute the script that comes to me. I am only giving form to Subhash-ji’s content.”
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ACTION DRAMA
There was an action drama at Bombay’s Naaz building earlier this week. A Gujarat distributor (who has acquired Vijaypath for Gujarat) beat up a film broker black and blue. Reason: the broker took an offer of another Gujarat distributor to producer Pravin Shah for Vijaypath, in spite of being fully aware that the film had already been sold for Gujarat. According to the Gujarat distributor, the broker’s move would result in him having to hike his price and hence the dishum dishum.
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CLASSMATES
Although this signifies nothing, it would, nevertheless, make for interesting reading. David Dhawan and Vinod Chopra studied in the same batch at the FTII.
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HC ADMITS WRIT AGAINST AMRITA
A writ petition filed by the assistant editor of Star & Style, under Article 226 was admitted on July 6 by Justices Mohta and Bahuguna of the Bombay high court. The petition seeks direction for taking Amrita Singh in custody for alleged assault on the assistant editor on 27th April. The judges have directed that Amrita Singh be made party to the petition. Ameena Naqvi, assisted by Owais Siddiqui, appeared for the petitioners.
VETERAN ACTRESS SARAJUBALA DEAD
Veteran stage and Bengali film actress Sarajubala Devi died at a hospital in Calcutta on 22nd July after a brief illness. She was 82 and is survived by two sons and two daughters.
ENT. TAX RAID ON HARDWAR CINEMA
The commissioner of entertainment tax on 17th July raided Ashoka cinema, Hardwar where Mohra was being screened. It was found that more cinegoers than tickets sold were watching the film. A case has been registered against the cinema.
FFI CRITICAL OF PAWAR’S REMARKS
The Film Federation of India has taken strong exception to a recent comment made by the Maharashtra chief minister, Sharad Pawar, on the Assembly floor that the Jalgaon sex scandal was a result of the evil influence of Indian films. FFI president Santosh Singh Jain has called it most sad, unfortunate and enigmatic. He further adds, “Although today, it has become a fashion to blame the film industry for all the evils prevalent in the society, such an irresponsible and sweeping statement coming from a supposed-to-be responsible person like Mr. Pawar is most unbecoming.”
NEW EDITING ROOM
Apollo Arts Film Editing, an editing room, opened on 16th July at 2, Neet & Geet, Plot No. 37, Subway Road (near Milan Cinema), Santacruz (W), Bombay-400 054. Phone: 613-3951. The editing room belongs to producer S.P. Mahendra whose office has also been shifted to the above address.
AMPS GENERAL MEETING
The 33rd annual general meeting of the Association of Motion Pictures Studios (AMPS) is being held today (23rd July) at Citizen Hotel at 11.30 a.m. The meeting will be followed by lunch.
‘SALAAMI’ CHANGES HANDS IN BOMBAY
Salaami, which was being distributed in Bombay by Mheraj Enterprises, will now be distributed by Friends Movies.
MOHAN, RATLAM CLOSED
Mohan Talkies, Ratlam has downed shutters for good.
SHREERAM LAGOO’S SON DEAD
Tanvir, son of Shreeram Lagoo, died in a freak accident on 16th July in Pune. He was returning from Bombay to Pune on 10th July by a train when a stone, thrown by an unknown person on the running train, hit him on the head. His head was relaxed against the open window. He fell unconscious and was rushed to a private hospital in Pune. Tanvir suffered brain haemmorhage and although his condition was stable for the next four days, he succumbed to his injuries on the night of 16th.
‘JURASSIC PARK’ TAX EXEMPTION: GOVT. DEFENDS DECISION
In a reply to a question raised in the Maharashtra State Assembly, revenue minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said that the tax-exemption given to the dubbed Hindi version of Jurassic Park was justified as the film falls under the category of educational films which provide wholesome entertainment and warn against the dangers of indiscriminate scientific research.
‘1942’ TAX-FREE IN MAHARASHTRA, GUJARAT
Vinod Chopra’s 1942 A Love Story has been granted tax exemption in Maharashtra (100%) and Gujarat (70%). The film was screened at tax-free rates in Maharashtra centres of C.P. Berar from 18th July onwards. In Bombay and Gujarat, the tax-free rates have been made applicable from the second week (22nd July).
Orders for tax-exemption have reportedly been obtained in Delhi and U.P. But it will be screened at tax-free rates in Delhi-U.P. from 29th July. Tax-exemption order for Madhya Pradesh is expected shortly.
‘DILWALE’ JUBILEE PARTY
Harry Baweja will host a cocktail-dinner party on 24th July (tomorrow) at Hotel Sun-N-Sand to celebrate the silver jubilee of his Dilwale. The film entered 25th week on 22nd July all over. Harry Baweja will also launch two new films the same day.
3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment
Making A Hit: Very Easy
Harry Baweja who is today known as the director of the hit film, Dilwale, feels, “It is easier to make a hit film than to recover overflow from the distributors.” We don’t need to add our comments to that. If at all, Harry’s distributors can come up with explanations/retorts.
The ‘Dilwale’ Trio
While on Harry Baweja, he will be announcing two films tomorrow at the silver jubilee function of his Dilwale. One will star one hero of Dilwale (Ajay Devgan) and the other, the second hero of Dilwale (Sunil Shetty). Raveena Tandon, the heroine of Dilwale, will play the female lead in at least one of the projects.
Unprecedented Demand, Unprecedented Pettiness
1942 A Love Story has not found appreciation among the masses but demand for its tickets at Bombay’s Metro cinema is unprecedented. On the other hand, tickets are easily available at several other cinemas of Bombay. The producer and Bombay distributors of the film found themselves in a difficult situation this week. While the demand for tickets of Metro continued in the film’s 2nd week, the management sent just about 30% of the tickets asked for by the producer/distributors. Rather than accepting the 30%, they preferred to return them to the management. But not without being irritated at and agitated by the management’s pettiness – and telling them so. According to the manager of Metro, one of the staffers of the cinema had messed up things and sent only 30% of the quota of tickets which were actually kept back for the producer/distributors.
‘1942’: The HMV Story
Realising that it had a super-hit music score in 1942 A Love Story, HMV left no stone unturned to promote it. A special video van, painted with the 1942 A Love Story logo, stormed the interiors of Gujarat, fully armed with a projection system for screening, match-boxes for distribution, cassettes for retailing, fliers as giveaways and posters to be stuck on walls, pillars, posts, etc., for a full month. A unique singing talent contest is being held all over India, based on the songs of the film. A special marketing blitz is also being done through various media. What’s more, members of the sales team held special road shows with a special 16-wheeled cycle having a 1942 A Love Story canopy in the streets of Nagpur.
A set of nine picture postcards having interesting anecdotes were distributed to the market as giveaways for the consumers. Exclusive 1942 A Love Story match-boxes were distributed free among retailers/consumers.
Too Many Cooks Spoil The Broth?
How many heads have worked on the script of 1942 A Love Story? Well, the story is credited to Kamna Chandra, Shiv Subramanyam and Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The screenplay is by Shiv Subramanyam, Vinod Chopra and Sanjay Bhansali. Besides the above, there were reportedly four script associates viz. Sudhir Mishra, Vikram Chandra, Vikas Mathur and Vinay Shukla. Then there were three script consultants: Amit Khanna, Vishwanath Mathur and Bikram Singh (late). Three associate directors – Yogesh, Binod Pradhan and Renu Saluja – and Javed Akhtar were also connected with the script-writing work. And all these writers together ‘produced’ about 500 scenes, of which the 65 best were picturised. And after the best, the rest is history….
Darshan – Of Gods & Stars
Hyderabad’s Film Nagar area at Jubilee Hills, where many leading South stars have their bungalows, is like a Mecca for star-gazers and film-crazy fans. Bus-loads of people arrive there every morning for a glimpse of their favourite stars like Chiranjeevi, Suman, Rajasekhar and many others. Some of these buses carry people who are on a pilgrimage to some temple town and who would like to have a darshan of the matinee idols too. In fact, these fans display banners on the buses, declaring their “mission” and giving details of their address. The banners on the buses scream, “So-and-so fans’ association of so-and-so (address)”. “Chalo Film Nagar” announces another banner.
The Problem Hero
The middle-aged hero who is launching his son as a hero, is himself problem personified for his producers. He doesn’t fulfill his commitments, reports late for shootings (that is, when he reports) and puts producers to heavy losses due to his unprofessional behaviour. To add to the producers’ woes is the hero’s secretary who makes promises only to break them.
