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March 8, 2000
5 QUESTIONS |
Khauff gets a cold reception Komal Nahta
Despite the euphoria around Sanjay Dutt after he bagged awards for his performance in Mahesh Manjrekar’s Vaastav, the initial (opening response) of Khauff, his first release post awards, was not 100 per cent, not even fairly good (80-90 per cent). Dutt is synonymous with action, whether he likes it or not. Daag -- The Fire took a brilliant start, mainly because its promotional trailers had a lot of action to show. Not so in the case of Khauff. The trailers weren’t full of action. For that matter, the film itself has minimal action. It is actually a thriller and lack of action in it has translated into an opening that is considered below the mark. Another factor that, perhaps went against the film, as far as opening response is concerned, is the presence of Manisha Koirala in the female lead. If Manisha doesn’t get serious about her appearance on screen (how she dresses up, how she does her makeup), she’ll soon be history. Mann should have taught her some lessons but maybe, the girl doesn’t listen to her mann! Dutt Jr plays father to Roshan Jr If the opening response to Sanjay Gupta’s Khauff is anything to go by, Sanjay Dutt should sit down and reconsider whether he should be playing ‘different’ roles in films. In Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Mission Kashmir, Sanjay plays Hrithik Roshan’s father. Will the audience be excited about seeing Dutt Jr play father to Roshan Jr? One is not sure!
Whatever has happened to Sunil Shetty? Agreed his career is not going great guns, but does it mean, he should leave everything to destiny? Look at his forthcoming Krodh. You may not even be aware that Krodh is due for release -- on March 17. There has been just minimum publicity, even the music cassettes were not released till last week! How could Sunil Shetty allow Ashok Honda to release Krodh without any hype? One holiday (Holi on March 20) in the first week is not so important to overlook other factors. This same Honda had spent heavily on the pre-release publicities of his earlier two films -- Rakshak and Anth, both of which starred Shetty.
The two films that are really ‘hot’ on exhibitors’ lists are Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge and Refugee. Gordhan Tanwani, producer of the former, is giving film promotion a new meaning with his Salman-Karisma starrer. He spent a fortune on the pre and post-release publicities of both his earlier films, Ishq and Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha, and consequently reaped rich harvests. He’s doing it all over again. Will he be third time lucky? The scales seem to be tilted in his favour due to several reasons. For one, the lead pair is a favourite of the audience. Two, lucky David Dhawan is the captain of the ship. And three, there hasn’t been a good release after Kaho Naa...Pyaar Hai which will be 10 weeks old by the time Dulhan... makes a bid for the public’s heart. Refugee comes from J P Dutta whose last film was the mega blockbuster, Border. Like Border, the music of Refugee is also said to be sensational. Besides, Refugee stars Amitabh Bachchan’s son, Abhishek, and Raj Kapoor’s other grand-daughter, Kareena. One hopes, Dutta doesn’t go overboard in the pre-release publicity of Abhishek Bachchan and Kareena Kapoor because their very names evoke expectations of the highest order in public minds. Coming back to exhibitors’ perceptions, the cinemas of Uttar Pradesh are offering bumper terms to Refugee. The film has been booked by a cinema (Leela) in Lucknow at an MG (Minimum Guarantee) of a whopping Rs 1.3 million! From Meerut, another station of Uttar Pradesh, it has fetched an MG of Rs 0.75 million. Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge has caught the fancy of C P-Berar exhibitors first. The film has been booked in Raipur and Jalgaon at MGs of Rs 0.6 million and Rs 0.5 million respectively. Not just this, the two cinemas which have paid these MGs have also reduced the rentals they will be charging for running Dulhan... The fever is bound to spread to exhibition circles in other circuits. DDLJ enters 225th week Aditya Chopra’s Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge entered the 225th week of its run at Bombay’s Maratha Mandir cinema. Considering that 25 weeks make a silver jubilee, the debut film of Aditya has celebrated nine silver jubilees in Bombay. The only film to have celebrated more silver jubilees is Sholay, which ran for 265 weeks in Bombay at Minerva cinema. However, DDLJ has run for 225 weeks (and it is still running), it did not do so at one single cinema. But Sholay completed 265 weeks in a single cinema, Minerva.
Although the comparison may look a trifle preposterous and far-fetched, one couldn't help but draw a few similarities between Titanic and Kaho Naa...Pyaar Hai. Both are huge hits (the former, of course, is too huge), both are love stories, both have superhit music, both have the hero and the heroine’s love blossoming on board a luxury liner, in both the films, the lovers do not live happily ever after as in most other love stories (in Titanic, hero Leonardo DiCaprio dies while in Kaho Naa..., Hrithik Roshan is killed first and then makes a comeback as the hero's look-alike). Both, Leo and Hrithik, became superstars overnight after the release of these films.
A look at the week
Komal Nahta edits the popular trade magazine, Film Information. Do tell us what you think of this column
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Krodh: no hype, at all
Refugee, Dulhan Hum... hot on the circuit
Hrithik: A desi Leo?