Salman, Filmfare and I

The reason Salman Khan’s name preceded Filmfare is because I don’t know when I became his fan but I exactly remember the time I first saw/read a Filmfare. It was the February edition of 1994. During that time I had just started with my abc of English as my preliminary education has been in Assamese. I guess I could just read the names of actors and films and could see the photographs. The cover had Karisma and Govinda. Back then Govinda was a big star and they were doing some hit films which are now considered cheap. It had carried interview of Aamir Khan, soon after the birth of his son Junaid (excerpt of which I have published earlier). After seeing a photograph of Shahrukh Khan I wondered is this guy also an actor. One thing was sure I had fallen in love with this magazine right then.

By the time I became aware of the world around me, the country was gripped with Salman hysteria as his film Maine Pyaar Kiya was a monstrous hit. Watching new films in those days was tough though. There was cinema hall in the town which was around 13 km away but that was the privilege of the grownups. My village had no electricity. There was TV in my house which was run on batteries. But it couldn’t take the load of VCRs. Then Doordarshan showed films of Rajesh Khanna or Rishi Kapoor which at that point I disliked so much. So no new films for me! By ’93 I was allowed to go to the bazaar which was 2/3 kilometers away and watch films on Video Parlours. The reigning superstars there were the action trio – Sunil Shetty, Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgan. These guys were a rage. Frankly at that point I found love stories a bit silly and loved these films. Most people who watched films in those Parlours aspired to become like Ajay Devgan who never goes after girl but the girl follows him. Later, after an untoward incident for which I was least responsible, I was barred from going to bazaar to watch films.

But I knew that Salman and Aamir were bigger stars. A poster from the film Andaaz Apna Apna where both were sitting on stairs wearing red jackets hung on my wall. I just didn’t get opportunities to watch their films. Then I went to my school where the opportunity to watch new films was open again. By then piracy had come into the Video Cassettes sector. The pathetic prints were really pathetic to see but then that was the only way to watch new films. Cinema Halls were soon to be shut as few years later VCDs made its way in. Though nowadays whenever I see a bad print in YouTube, it takes me to those days.

In June ’98 I had bought a Filmfare during my vacation as it had Salman Khan on cover post the success of Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya. I took it along to my school a month later. One day a teacher found out that I had ‘Filmfare’ with me. It was confiscated from me. If I read Filmfare at that age (I was 13 then), what I would do later. That was the reaction of my teacher. My house master was a cool person. He kept it with him and promised to give me when I go home next time. May be my teacher would be surprised to know that I ‘still’ read Filmfare only and ‘did nothing else’.

After coming to Delhi, everything changed. Here I watched films in the best cinema halls in the country and regularly read Filmfare (which I still continue). After few months, it became like an addiction. Whenever a new edition came out, I would finish reading it in one sitting and then wait for one month for next issue to come out. The love for the magazine was not just because of my love for films. The interviews are very well written and intelligent. Nowadays, I'm sure it influences my writing heavily.

Just before my admission for undergraduate course in Literature in English in college I appeared for interview in a South Campus college. I had forgotten about the interview. So I was sitting in front of the penal for my first ever interview wearing a T shirt bought from SN Market which had one of those cheesy one liners.

Interviewer1: Do you read?

Me: Yes.

Interviewer2: What have you read recently?

Me: Biography of Shahrukh Khan.

Interviewer2: Do you think censorship should be allowed into a piece of art?

Me: Yes.

Interviewer2: Why?

Me: Because there is lot of vulgarity in films.

Interviewer2: How do you define vulgarity? Can you name one actor who indulges in it?

Me: Yes. Meghna Naidu in Hawas (Lust).

Interviewer1: In literature, one has to read really fast. How is your reading speed?

Me: Pretty good. I can finish Filmfare which is of 142 pages in 4 hours.

I was selected.

Introducing Shruti Haasan

She is a Rock Singer, a Music Composer, a Model and finally turning into full time actress . Her father is one of the legendary actors of the country. Her Momma is one of the beautiful women I have ever seen (Yeah, I have seen Sarikaji in real life). She is going to make her big screen debut on 24th July this year.

"Naam Hai Shruti Haasan. Na main Luck pe jeeti hoon na Luck pe bharosa hai mujhe. Kyunki Luck bhi sirf uska saath deta hai jismein jitne ka jazva ho." She declares in her introductory promo of the film Luck. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsBiyPDq7_8)

Shruti Rajalakshmi Haasan was born on 28 January, 1986 to Kamal Haasan, a legendary actor and Sarika, a beautiful actress. She began her singing career singing alongside another great actor Sivaji Ganesan, when she was six year old in her father's Tamil film Thevar Magan (1992) followed by Chachi 420 (1998) in Hindi and the bilingual Hey Ram (2000). Soon after her parents got separated and she came to Mumbai with her mother where she completed her final schooling. She then went to the Musicians Institute, Hollywood (USA) to further hone her musical skills.

After returning, she was doing a lot of live performances specially in rock concerts. The first playback singing as grown up happened in the Tamil film Varanam Aayiram (2008) with the rocking song Adiya Kulluthey. Amazing voice. She will compose music for her father's next film which is a remake of the acclaimed A Wednesday. Her music album where she is composer-lyricist- singer will release soon.

She is making her big screen debut in the adventure action thriller Luck directed by Soham Shah alongside Imran Khan, who is a long time friend and has a peculiar relationship. Shruti's mom is dating Imran's mom's ex husband Raj Zutshi. :P. Coming back to the film she has sung the rock version of the title track Aazma Luck.

Many star children make their entry to the film world. Some succeed, some fail and some reach the dizzying heights of stardom. But seldom such multi talented person makes an entry. Watch out for the first female superstar who is truly a rock star. Shruti Haasan. Lastly about her 'Muslim' sounding surname. Her grandfather had a dear friend by the name Haasan. The friendship was so deep that grandpa decided to give the name as surname to his children which is now passed onto children's children. Her grandfather's surname was Ayyenger and he was a Tamil Brahmin.

Raining Films

After two month long deadlock between the producer and distributor one side and the national chain of multiplexes on the other, a consensus has been reached. The main issue was the share in the revenue between the distributor and the multiplex. Earlier there were no hard rules of the share, meaning the distributor got the share as per the general perception of his film. If it was a good hyped, big starrer then the distributor got his own terms else it was the multiplex who dictated terms. The reason why the multiplexes have become so powerful is that the major share of the total revenue comes from the multiplexes and it’s increasing like weed in the field. Yes, I dislike watching movies with lesser people around.

Now there will be uniform rate of revenue sharing for all films irrespective of the star cast. As per the agreed terms, the distributor’s share will be

Week 1: 50%
Week 2: 42.5%
Week 3: 37.5%
Week 4: 30%

If the nett box-office collections, after deducting entertainment tax, crosses Rs. 17.5 crores in the national chain of multiplexes [PVR, Big Cinemas, Inox, Fame Cinemas, Fun Republic, Cinemax], the first two weeks' terms would be upped by 2.5%. Which means Week 1 will be 52.5% and Week 2 will be 45%.

But if the film is a disaster, and does less than Rs. 10 crores nett from the national chain of multiplexes, after deducting entertainment tax, in such a scenario, the second and third week terms would be brought down by 2.5%. Which means Week 2 will be 40% and Week 3 will be 35%. This is applicable only if films are released in over 500 screens. (Source: Bollywoodhungama.com)

The month of May/June is considered good months as most school/colleges go for vacation. Due to this strike, these precious months were lost which is estimated to be a loss of 350 crore. Even though the strike ended in the beginning of June, no major release can take place until the last week of the month as no film except Kal Kisne Dekha was promoted during the strike. At least 3 weeks of promotion is required for any big film to release. Here is the list of biggies that will be storming the theatres on coming days till Ramzan. Ramzan is the holy month for Muslims when they stay away from luxuries. Hence traditionally the industry doesn’t release any of its big films on this month. This year Ramzan begins from 21^st August. The list of films expected to release before that:

12 June:

Kal Kisne Dekha:

The film marks the debut of Jacky Bhagnani (son of producer Vashu Bhagnani who produced much of the No. 1 series with David Dhawan) and Vaishali Desai, the grandniece of Manmohan Desai, the father of Masala films in Hindi film industry. Though Bhagnani is promoting the film really well, I don’t have many expectations from it.

19 June:

Paying Guests:

Lately films produced by Subhash Ghai work better than the ones he directs. Here is another film from his banner Mukta Arts starring a lot of small time actors such as Shreyas Talpade, Javed Jaffrey, Riya Sen, Celina Jaitly, Ashish Chowdhury etc etc. It may turn out to be a good entertainer.

26 June:

New York:

This is the first big film in actual sense of term. After Kabul Express, director Kabir Khan comes with another film on the effect of 9/11. This time the canvas shifts to New York and what happens to three Muslim friends played by John Abraham, Katrina Kaif and Neil Mukesh post the attack on the World Trade Centre. I am looking forward to this film. Though I’m little surprised with the marketing strategy of Yashraj as traditionally they promote their films in a big way. Barely two weeks remain for the film to release and the music has yet not come. The song Yaaro by KK is surely going to be a chartbuster.

3 July:

Kambakkht Ishq:

The film has been in news for the special appearances of Sylvester Stallone and few more Hollywood actors. Add to that it stars Akshay Kumar whose films have been doing well except the last two releases. This one also looks like another of his Masala films which is expected to do well. The rest of the star cast includes Kareena Kapoor, Aftab Shivdasani and Amrita Arora. Initially I was really looking forward to this one but the enthusiasm has diluted in recent past for my increasing disliking for Akshay Kumar.

10 July:

Short Kut:

Not much information has been released about this film except its cast and crew. The film stars Akshaye Khanna, Arshad Warsi, Amrita Rao and is produced by Anil Kapoor. Whatever I know about the industry, I don’t expect this film to release on the given date. But that’s the official date given by the producer. Let’s see.

17 July:

Jashnn:

Shekhar Suman is a big loser and his son is a bigger one. Where on earth would you find a father giving public statements on the happenings of his son’s love life? Adhyayan Suman, more known as the boyfriend of Kangana Ranaut, stars in this film along with Anjana Sukhani. Given the star cast of the film why I’m including it in my list. Well, it’s a film from the Bhatts. The music is going to be good and they have a history of giving unexpected hits.

24 July:

Luck:

This is one film I’m really looking forward to. It stars my recent favourite Imran Khan and daughter of one of my favourite actors Shruti Hassan, who is making her debut, as the lead pair. The film also stars Sanjay Dutt, Mithun Chakraborty, Danny, Ravi Kishan etc. The film is directed by Soham Shah (of Kaal) and is produced by Ashtavinayak who are really producing some good films in recent past.

Agyaat:

Another film that will release on the same day is Ramgopal Verma’s Agyaat. The film stars his recent muse Nisha Kothari and Telugu actor Nitin which is about a film crew who enter a jungle in Sri Lanka to have fun and end up dead. The promos are interesting and I am hoping the film to be as interesting as well.

31 July:

Love Aaj Kal:

Saif Ali Khan is making his foray into production under the banner Illuminati films with Love Aaj Kal directed by Imtiaz Ali. Post Jab We Met the expectations are huge from the director. The female lead is played by Deepika Padukone. Another major highlight if the film is that Neetu Singh will make a comeback to the big screen after almost 3 decades with Rishi Kapoor as company. The film also stars Rahul Khanna, the lesser known son of Vinod Khanna.

7 August:

Wanted:

This would be truly the day of my life. First time ever my favourite actor and actress would be coming together in the remake of a film (Pokiri) I loved so much. I have never been looking forward for any film so much as this one. I’m going to make a record for myself. Even before the release of the film, I will book two tickets on different days. Even if the film turns out to be a dud, I will watch it twice anyway – once for Salman, then for Ayesha. If it turns out good which I really think it would then I’m going to break all my previous record of watching a film in theatre. Now it’s 4 times (Mujhse Shaadi Karogi, Chak De India, Sunday, Jaane Tu...). The film is directed by Prabhu Deva and also stars Vinod Khanna, Mahesh Manjrekar, Inder Kumar and the Southern star Prakash Raj. I had started my audio cassette collection with ‘Soldier’ in ’98. Though I have not been buying cassette after getting this laptop (Rock On was the last cassette I bought), it will formally end with Wanted. Not that I intend to spend the rest of my life downloading music. Next time it would be CDs or whichever format the music comes in.

14 August:

Aladin:

This one is a modern take on the famous Arabian Nights story by director Sujoy Ghosh who earlier made films like Jhankar Beats and Home Delivery. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan as Genie, Riteish Desmukh as Aladin and Sanjay Dutt as the baddie. The films fate will depend how successfully Ghosh adapts the story. I personally don’t have much hope though.

Kaminey:

The film stars the newest couple in town Shahid Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra which is directed by the maverick director Vishal Bharadwaj. From the promos it seems to be a black comedy. But Bharadwaj makes quality cinema and this one should be no different.

These are the tentative releases for the next three months. Though there is no surety of it as it keeps changing. Still the major schedule will remain unchanged. So fix your date.