(From our issue dated 10th December, 1994)
Sunny Deol was again laid up in bed last week due to his back problem. He was to have participated in the shooting of J.P. Dutta’s Border but could not report for it.
Mix Masala
JUHI’S CHARM IN ABSENTIA
For journalist Sanjay K.S., who is also looking after the publicity of Juhi Chawla, his dream of going to New York has been realised, thanks to Juhi. When Juhi won 2 KLM tickets to the USA last year, she gifted one to Sanjay. But Sanjay, who was finding it a bit difficult to obtain a visa, realised that it wasn’t really so difficult after all, when he made it known to the authorities at the American embassy in Bombay that he was Juhi’s publicist and that he was travelling to New York, courtesy Juhi. The official (foreigner) asked Sanjay several questions before issuing the visa. And, believe it or not, all the questions related to Juhi, not Sanjay! Sanjay will be away to the USA for a month beginning 12th December.
DO YOU KNOW?
*Shivani Films, the distributors of HUM HAIN BEMISAL for Gujarat and Saurashtra, have distributed free T-shirts of the film among the public in Jamnagar. The T-shirts are inscribed with the title of the film and the photographs of Sunil Shetty and Akshay Kumar.
* GOPI KISHAN has created a record by collecting 20,982/- in 1st week at Anupam (matinee), Jamnagar.
* GOPI KISHAN has created a theatre record by collecting 95,823/- in 1st week at Prabhu, Jabalpur.
* GOPI KISHAN has created a theatre record by collecting 1,08,415/- in 1st week at Shyam, Amravati.
* Manjushree is the first cinema in Uttar Pradesh to have yielded a share of over 20 lakh (20,47,817/-) in just 18 weeks’ run of HAHK..!. 18th week’s collection: 1,02,062/-.
* HAHK..! has created a city record by collecting a total of 14,09,404/- in 13 weeks at Vandana, Jabalpur.
* HAHK..! has created a city record by collecting 92,570/- in 18th week at Chitra, Amravati. Total for eighteen weeks: 18,44,697/-. Share: 11,84,866/-.
* HAHK..! has created a new city record by collecting 59,224/- in 18th week at Vasant, Akola. Total for 18 weeks: 11,30,855/-.
* HAHK..! has created a record by collecting 71,006/- in 14th week at Raj, Raipur.
* HAHK..! has created a Khandesh record by collecting 88,880/- in 8th week at Natwar, Jalgaon. Total for 8 weeks: 6,68,930/-.
* HAHK..! has created a city record by collecting a total of 9,49,555/- in 12 weeks at Jayant, Chandrapur.
* HAHK..! has created a record by collecting 54,000/- in 11th week at Jeet, Bilaspur.
* HAHK..! has created a city record by collecting 1,00,950/- in 9th week at Suraj, Bikaner.
* HAHK..! has created history by collecting 1,04,012/- (gross) in 5th week at Ashok, Alwar. Gross total for 5 weeks: 9,09,800/-.
* BABA RAMDEV (Rajasthani; 75% TF; new) is creating new records at small centres. It has yielded a distributor’s share of 25,000/- in 1st week at Vishnu, Abu Road, and 45,000/- in 1st week at Kailash, Gangapur city. Two weeks’ share from Archana, Pratapgarh is 18,000/-, a record. It has created an all-time record by yielding a share of 45,000/- in 23 days at Lalsot. At Prakash, Sawai Madhopur, the film has collected a record 55,000/- in 1st week.
RAHMAN’S SISTER WEDS
Music director A.R. Rahman’s sister got married in Madras on 4th December.
PEOPLE
Are worried about
**Whether or not the industry has started working on its charter of demands to be presented to the finance ministry for sympathetic consideration in the Union Budget of 1995-96.
** The dwindling box-office collections in Madhya Pradesh. Somehow, films aren’t doing so well in M.P.
PEOPLE
Are talking about
** The high price being demanded for the Hindi remaking rights of the Tamil film, Kadalan. It is believed, the price is 5 with seven zeroes following it. Follow? This is the same film which has the super-hit ‘Muqabla muqabla’ song composed by A.R. Rahman and copied by several music directors for their Hindi films.
** The music of Mani Ratnam’s Bombay, scored by A.R. Rahman. It has fetched a price of 80 lakh from HMV which has released the cassettes!
PEOPLE
Are waiting for
** A clear picture to emerge on the satellite and cable TV front. Anybody and everybody is claiming to hold the aforesaid rights of films while the producers of those films vehemently deny it. When will the claims cease and denials disappear?
** Anil Kapoor and Shah Rukh Khan to begin shooting together for Trimurti. Because the two couldn’t come together in Ketan Desai’s Deewana Mastanadue to problems between themselves. Now that they will come face to face, will there be fireworks? Or will there be nothing but good work?
3-E
Education-Entertainment-Enlightenment
Advantageous Delay
It has been proved now. That the release of video cassettes can be delayed by a week or two from the date of theatrical release. And to the producer and distributor’s advantage. In the absence of video cassettes, box-office collections definitely improve. Of late, many producers have tried it and have succeeded. Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!, of course, is the only film of which video cassettes have not been released for 18 weeks now. Other makers have successfully withheld the cassettes for a week or more. Mukesh Duggal has also decided to hold back the cassettes indefinitely. The fear that pirated cassettes would flood the market in the absence of legal cassettes has proved to be unfounded. N.N. Sippy will also be delaying the release of the video cassettes of Teesra Kaun? by two weeks from the date of the film’s theatrical release (23rd December).
Gutsy Rajan Lall
It is being done for the first time. Producer Rajan Lall has organised two shows of Dal-pati (dubbed) in Bombay today (10th December) for the public who will not have to pay for the tickets. The shows will be held today at 6 p.m. at New Excelsior and Galaxy cinemas and tickets will be issued to the public from 5 p.m. onwards on first-come-first-served basis. Dal-pati is due for release on 30th December. To throw it open to the public more than a fortnight before the release requires guts. And Rajan Lall has proved to be really gutsy!
‘Teesra Kaun?’ …… Teesri Film
While on Teesra Kaun?, it may be mentioned here that this is N.N. Sippy’s third suspense film, the earlier two being Woh Kaun Thi? andGumnam. According to Sippy, “The secret of success of a suspense film lies in keeping the suspense till the end and yet keeping audience interest alive all through. The audience must not get bored and must keep on guessing. If the suspense is inadvertently revealed mid-way, it can spell disaster for the film.”
Birth Of A New Distributor
While several distributors are sitting tight, preferring not to buy films at these “crazy prices”, Bombay has seen the birth of a new distributor, Yunusbhai of Dreamland cinema, Bombay. His first release, Gopi Kishan, having done well, one can be sure that Yunusbhai is here to stay, not only as an exhibitor but also as a distributor.
Whistling Whizkid
Laxmikant Pyarelal missed Anu Malik terribly on 5th December. And why so? It so happened that for the recording of the first song of Ketan Desai’s Deewana Mastana on that day, the music duo wanted somebody to blow the whistle tunefully. Pyare recalled that Anu is among the best whistle-blowers and tried to contact him. But Anu was away in London and Laxmi-Pyare had to make do with an alternative. All of which did not prevent Pyarelal from remarking that had Anu been in Bombay, he would have definitely come to Mehboob and blown the whistle.
Business Brain
For Sunil Shetty fans, the best place to catch him these days is at his own restaurant-cum-bar, Mischief, which opened recently next to Central cinema in South Bombay. The hero goes there in his free time and while the restaurant serves food to the hungry customers, Sunil obliges the glamour-hungry fans by signing autographs. Good business policy, this.
Filmmaking In Bihar
The latest craze in Bihar is filmmaking. Glamour-struck people are bullied into financing projects and turning producers. Over-enthusiastic directors announce a muhurt, rope in gullible ‘producers’ and a known face or two for the launch. More often than not, the muhurt is captured on U-matic and shooting is also done for some days on U-matic. The director then disappears from the scene or announces another muhurt. In the process, the poor ‘producer’ is poorer by anything between Rs. 2,000 and Rs. 20,000 or more.
YOU ASKED IT
Is tax-exemption a boon always?
– It often proves to be a bane because ‘B’ and ‘C’ class centres, which do not file proper entertainment tax returns, find it more profitable to release films without the tax-free label. In the case of tax-free films, there’s no chance of pocketing the tax.
With Anil Kapoor coming in place of Sanjay Dutt in Subhash Ghai’sTrimurti, will the script undergo changes?
– Only a few changes.
I am an NRI and wish to finance a film. Is it worthwhile to do so?
– Why not? Backing a proper project can be a fruitful and paying proposition.
NATIONAL FILM MUSEUM
The ministry of Information and Broadcasting has approved the setting up of a National Film Museum and has appointed the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) as the nodal agency to co-ordinate this effort.
I & B minister K.P. Singh Deo, during his visit to Bombay on 6th December, emphasised the need for the museum which would be a centre to appreciate the art and science of cinema. The museum will also serve as a centre for research in cinema studies. As a first step, an exhibition commemorating 100 years of cinema will be set up at the Nehru Centre during the forthcoming international film festival of India in Bombay.
16MM TO CINEMASCOPE
Quality Labs has made it possible to take out Cinemascope release prints from 16mm original negatives. The laboratory has installed the machinery for the purpose. This would entail savings to the producer as 35mm negative is almost four times the cost of 16mm negative. Besides, Cinemascope camera rental is about six times that of 16mm camera.
RAHUL ROY BEREAVED
Deepak Roy, father of actor Rahul Roy, passed away in Delhi on 7th December due to heart failure. He was 55 and is survived by his wife and two sons.
CAMERAMAN INJURED
Mhatre, an operator of the Steadicam, was injured quite seriously earlier this week while shooting Time’s Krishna in Bombay. A duplicate actor who was driving a car, lost control of the car which hit Mhatre who was operating the Steadicam. He is out of danger.
JUHI CHAWLA CLARIFIES
Juhi Chawla has dismissed as baseless the news item in a section of the press that she is getting married on 12th December. She has clarified that she has no immediate plans of marriage.
