(From our issue dated 28th January, 1995)
Mental Torture For Distributors
Release Upset
There was expected to be tension at the time of delivery of Anuj Sharma’s Jawab. But not to the extent there actually was!
Financiers, it seemed, sprung up from nowhere, with letters of lien and court orders, restraining deliveries before their dues were settled. Anuj Sharma adopted the trick of keeping his distributors in the dark till the last moment.
Ramnord Lab, where the prints were to be delivered, was a picture of total chaos on 25th January. Distributors of all-India were tense and angry at the same time. While financiers co-operated, distributors also volunteered to pay more than what was stipulated. There must have been at least ten occasions in a single day when, despite all the co-operation, it appeared that the deliveries would not be effected. Each time, it was a new angle to the story.
Besides U.P., C.P. and C.I., where the film was scheduled for release on 26th January by virtue of it being a Thursday, several other distributors had also planned to take advantage of the Republic Day holiday by releasing the film in their circuits too on Thursday. But there was no trace of any delivery till late Wednesday night.
The exasperated distributors, on several occasions, took back their delivery amounts from the producer and decided to leave the laboratory and forget about the release. Anuj Sharma and his brother, Anil Sharma, used all the acting prowess at their command to persuade them to bear with them. The Gujarat distributor, however, decided to forfeit the amount he had paid to the Bombay distributor (that is, the producer himself) rather than deal with him. U.A. Thadani stepped in at the last moment and released it in Gujarat.
While deliveries for most of the circuits were effected on Friday, prints for some are being despatched today (Saturday). Seemingly, the film will be released in many circuits today or tomorrow. It will open in C.I. on Sunday.
In Bombay, the producer-distributor pleaded inability to deliver the prints to the cinemas unless they paid him minimum guarantees in cash. Obviously, no cinema was willing to fall prey to the blackmailing tactics of Anuj Sharma. A minimum guarantee of Rs. 2.5 lakh was reportedly demanded from the main cinema, Metro. While some cinemas suspended one show, others screened repeat-run films. Under the circumstances, no advance booking was opened for the film anywhere. Even at the show timings, cinemas were unaware whether they would be screening Jawabor another film.
Reportedly, producer Anuj Sharma has had to part with virtually all the rights, including satellite, Doordarshan and negative rights of the film, in favour of the various financiers. As for the various distributors of the film, they’ve vowed never to have anything to do with Anuj Sharma in future, such was the mental torture they were subjected to. As one distributor quipped, “It is producers like Anuj Sharma who give a bad name to the entire community of producers.”
Mix Masala
LIKE STORIES, LIKE DRAMAS
Jawab and Pranlal Mehta’s Betaaj Badshah have similar stories. What’s more, both the films star Raaj Kumar and Mukesh Khanna. And still more coincidental is that both the films put their distributors to a hell of a lot of tension during their deliveries! Of course, Jawab beat Betaaj Badshah hands down.
Do You Know?
‘KARAN ARJUN’: ROCK-STEADY IN 2ND WEEK
* Creates an all-time record at Vatva (Ahmedabad) by collecting 83,678/- (nett) in 1st week at Golden cinema.
* Creates city records in the first 2 weeks at Ragini, Ankleshwar by collecting 1,55,501/- in 1st week and 1,20,757/- in 2nd week.
* Creates a record in 1st week at Krishna, Padra (Gujarat) by collecting 1,28,408/-.
* Creates history by collecting more (1,00,887/-) in 2nd week than in 1st week (91,283/-) at Jayshri, Jamnagar, in spite of severe cold and increase in admission rates.
* Creates a theatre record by collecting 3,06,545/- in 2 weeks at Mahalaxmi, Nasik.
* Creates a record in 2nd week too at Sandesh, Malegaon by drawing all shows full. Two weeks’ total: 1,71,970/-.
* Creates a record by drawing all shows full at Padma, Kolhapur. 2 weeks’ total: 2,36,096/-, all full.
* Creates records at both the cinemas of Sangli by drawing all shows full in 1st week. Swaroop, Sangli 74,424/-; Samarth, Sangli 55,160/-.
* Creates records at the following cinemas of Delhi: Moti by collecting 4,04,714/- in 2 weeks, Natraj by drawing all 56 shows full, Alankar by collecting 3,12,342/- in 2nd week, Amba by drawing all 56 shows full, Sonia by collecting 1,82,108/- in 2nd week, Batra by collecting 2,20,000/- in 2nd week, Radhu Palace by collecting 2,37,918/- in 2nd week, and Chaudhary, Ghaziabad by collecting 1,28,654/- in 2nd week.
* Randhir Kapoor, in spite of owning R.K. Studios, will be shooting his PREM GRANTH next week on a set erected at Mehboob Studios. It is because both the floors at R.K. are occupied by sets which stand erected there. One of the sets is of PREM GRANTH itself!
3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment
Production Boom
The studios in Bombay are having a field day. With so many TV serials being made, there is a veritable shortage of studio floors. When Vinod Khanna did not get a floor for putting up a set for Himalay Putra, he requested Ravi Chopra to let him use a floor at Film City. Although Ravi Chopra wasn’t shooting his serial at Film City, his set was standing erected there. Vinod Khanna volunteered to have Ravi’s set dismantled, erect his own set and, after the completion of the shooting of Himalay Putra, re-erect Ravi’s set. And that’s how Khanna could get a studio floor for shooting his film.
Smart Pirates
As in the case of Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! and Teesra Kaun?, the pirated video cassettes of Rakesh Roshan’s Karan Arjun are also out in the market. The pirates have become smarter now because although Rakesh Roshan had marked each and every print of Karan Arjun, the pirated cassettes do not have any marking. Obviously, the pirates have taken care to edit the marked portions so as not to reveal the identity of the print from which the video copies have been made. Incidentally, although the pirated cassettes are out, the legal cassettes of the film will not be released for another two weeks.
Hotshot
There seems to be a crazy scramble to sign newcomers. Producers seem to be literally queuing up outside the homes of new heroes, offering them unbelievable prices to act in their films. Like Sanjay Kapoor, another debut-making hero who has signed a number of films even before he has had any release is Vinod Khanna’s son, Akshaye Khanna. Besides dad’s Himalay Putra in which he is being launched, Akshaye has — believe it or not — nine more films which he is committed to do. One will be produced by G.P. Sippy and directed by Robin Bhatt. This film is scheduled to roll on 30th January. Besides J.P. Dutta’s Border, Akshaye has also been signed for Jhelum, again of J.P. Dutta. Then there’s one film which he will be doing for Romu Sippy, and another, for Feroz Khan. The latter is on the lookout for a new heroine. Akshaye will also act in a film to be produced by Nitin Manmohan, and another to be made by Compact Disc India. The latter will be directed by Sanjay Khanna. Sanjay Gupta will be directing Akshaye in a film to be produced by T.P. Aggarwal. Then, there’s a film to be produced by Milan Jhaveri, son of late financier Chandrasen Jhaveri. It will be directed by Binny Latif, erstwhile assistant to Rajkumar Santoshi.
Irresponsible
It is all very easy to put the blame on Subhash Ghai for the failure of the Cinema Cinema 100 show held in Bombay on 15th January. But many of the industry people who refrained from extending any form of co-operation to Ghai, are equally to be blamed. As, for instance, Dilip Kumar who let down Subhash Ghai rather badly on the D-day. Dilip Kumar was present for the final rehearsal on 14th January, just a day before the show, but did not turn up for the event on 15th, giving the excuse of ill-health. Now, if such stalwarts of the industry as Dilip Kumar can act in such an irresponsible manner, God save cinema in its 100th year!
Making English Films On Indians
Tirlok Malik is a non-resident Indian, settled in New York. He is, perhaps, the first Indian who makes English films about India and Indians. His Love, Lust & Marriage was screened at the recently concluded IFFI ’95 in Bombay. Starring himself with Deepti Naval and Samia Shoaib, the film is directed by Ravi Khote, grandson of late actress Durga Khote, and son of international filmmaker Vijaya Mehta. This is Tirlok’s second film. His first, Lonely In America, was a romantic comedy which won several awards and was screened at more than twenty film festivals. Love, Lust & Marriage is about realtionships in the nineties. It is the story of a marriage that has been battered by the American dream, workaholism and the prostitute complex. Our very own Raaj Grover, besides playing a role in the film, is also its associate producer. Tirlok Malik has more projects in the pipeline, presumably all dealing with Indians. As he says, “You can take an Indian out of India, but you cannot take India out of an Indian.”
Hit Parodies
Come elections and one gets to hear parodies of hit songs in the campaigning of various political parties. The Shiv Sena in Maharashtra seeks to embarrass the Congress with lyrics (set to popular tunes) like: Topi ke peechhe kya hai / Panje ke peechhe kya hai (Khal-nayak tune); Moorakh mantri ko dekha to aisa lagaa (1942 A Love Story tune); P.M., tera C.M. deewana / Dawood ko daaley daana / Rishta uska us-se purana / Haay Ram, gundon ka hai zamana (Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! tune).
PEOPLE
Are talking about
** The Sharma brothers — Anil and Anuj — and the tension they gave to the distributors of their Jawab. There was a drama every minute from 25th January at Ramnord Lab., and the uncertainty about its release (on 27th) prevailed till 27th!
** The runaway success of Karan Arjun. Trade pundits predict that it should do a business of Rs. 4 crore per major circuit.
PEOPLE
Are wondering about
** Which would be Sanjay Dutt’s earliest release now — Andolanor Jai Vikraanta?
** Why Raja, which was due for release on 7th April, has been postponed. The answer is: re-shooting. The producers say, it will now be released in early May. Know-alls say, May will become June.
PEOPLE
Are happy about
** The Rajshri people’s decision to phenomenally hike admission rates in cinemas in different parts of the country for their HAHK..!. Their experiment paid off and paved the way for producers and distributors of big films to similarly steeply increase admission rates in the initial weeks of their releases, thereby generating unheard of shares. Karan Arjun is the latest example.
YOU ASKED IT
When established hits can collect handsomely in the Ramzan weeks, why are producers and distributors averse to releasing new films during Ramzan?
– It is one thing to release a new film during Ramzan and quite another thing for an established hit to continue faring well during that period.
What is the ratio of Hindi films to the total number of films released in Indian languages?
– Hindi films account for about 20% of the Indian films released. 60% to 65% are South Indian language films.
Who are the economical music directors?
– Anand Milind and Shyam Surender are among the most economical.
CABLE TV RIGHTS: VIDEO DISTRIBUTORS MAKING MONEY
Even as the production sector is trying to figure out what the sale of cable TV rights of films will fetch to producers, Cable Video, an organisation of five video distributors, has already started collecting money by granting cable TV rights to cable operators in Bombay.
Cable Video collects money from cable operators on a monthly and per-point basis. The usual charges are Rs. 4, 5, 6 or 7 per point (household) per month. Cable Video provides video cassettes from its library to cable operators who are affiliated to it.
The five video distributors who are members of M/s. Cable Video are Time, Indus, Bombino, Video Palace and Prism. These video distributors claim to have the cable TV rights of almost all the films of which they hold the home-viewing video rights.
AMEEN SAYANI’S SON WEDS
A reception to celebrate the wedding of Rajil, son of Ameen Sayani, with Krishanjyoti was held on 27th January at the Turf Club, Bombay.
MANISH KUMAR TO WED
Marriage of Manish Kumar, hero of Anokha Andaaz and son of producer Daulat Fulwadhya, with Vandana will be solemnised today (28th January) at Khar, Bombay. A reception to celebrate the wedding will be held this evening at Hotel Centaur.
GAFFARBHAI NADIAWALA ON CBFC PANEL
Producer Gaffarbhai Nadiadwala has been appointed a member of the CBFC advisory panel. The name of his late brother, I.A. Nadiadwala, was inadvertently mentioned in the list of newly appointed members, in place of Gaffarbhai’s name.
