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FEET FOR
THE KISSING
SOME wag their heads in commiseration, as if to say the poor
guy didn’t have a choice. Others insist he’s a disgrace
to the film fraternity for the spineless way he’s buckled
under pressure.
But HANSAL MEHTA is unrepentant. He insists he doesn’t
feel in the least humiliated at being forced to get down on
his knees and kiss the feet of a senior citizen of Khar-Danda,
Koliwada, Mumbai. The Shiv Sainiks unleashed a stinker of
a protest against references in the film to Khar-Danda as
a place where “chori, loot-maar aur ladkiyon ka adda”
was rampant. It didn’t take them long to stir up the
local riff-raff in protest. They created quite a ruckus outside
Mehta’s office, some of them even hurling abuse and ink
bottles. And though a ruffled Mehta sought to pacify the mob
saying his film was purely fictional, the crowd commented
Khar-Danda was certainly no fictional place. Eventually, Mehta
agreed to a public apology to appease the angry Sainiks.
“I have no regrets about kissing the woman’s feet.
After all, she’s old enough to be my grandmother,”
Mehta is said to have commented. By the looks of it, even
the token apology hasn’t pacified the Sainiks. Mehta
now has to contend with orders that he issue ads in the leading
newspapers apologising for the insult to Koliwada’s upright,
law-abiding citizens. And that isn’t all — he will
also have to delete the offending lines from the film’s
dialogue, and write to the police commissioner to ensure the
lines are blanked out on the video cassettes.
Flattered by Mehta’s abject submission, the Sainiks have
unleashed a veritable victory dance.“Aainda koi aise
film ko hum nahi chalane denge,” a Sena upstart thundered
on stage to raucous applause. So what’s the Sena plotting?
A takeover of the CBFC?
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DATELINE CHENNAI
SO what’s the other find of Kaho Na Pyar Hai been up
to, lately? Well, AMISHA PATEL, we’re told, has a great
role coming up in Zee’s period production, Gaddar, opposite
Sunny Deol. And as she told us a couple of months ago, she’s
also currently on a date with the Chennai industry, with Enna
Vilay Azhagae, where she’s been pitted against Prasanth,
arguably Tamil Nadu’s Hrithik Roshan.
Prasanth plays a maverick ad agency man who’s become
successful on the strength of the offbeat, irreverent campaigns
he’s produced for clients. Here’s a sample: a textile
owner asks him to come up with an attention grabbing campaign
for his shop. And promptly, he prepares a hoarding, which
in reality is an average design hung inverted. The textile
owner fumes and frets at the quixotic idea alright, yet, the
hoarding becomes a huge hit with city-slickers. Good, but
what’s our Amisha playing in it, did you ask? Well, what
else but the model adman Prasanth falls head over heels in
love with. The lovelorn man doesn’t quite have it all
his way, though, for it isn’t before he undergoes quite
an ordeal or two that she relents, and accepts him as a suitor.
Amisha’s sure being hard to please down South, don’t
you agree?
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SINS
OF OMISSION
HE’S just turned filmmaker, with an untitled Sai Shiv
Films production that stars Anupam Kher and Bengali heartthrob
Nandana Sen. But the genial director of former laughathons
like Filmi Chakkar is an uncharacteristically angry man now.
No, the film, launched on October 12 hasn’t quite run
into rough weather yet. It isn’t his own film ASHOK PANDIT’s
bristling about, but the currently-showing Vidhu Vinod Chopra
movie, Mission Kashmir. As the zonal coordinator for Panun
Kashmir, the outfit fighting for the rights of Kashmiri pandits,
of which he himself is one, Ashok can be pretty vocal and
passionate about the long-lost homeland.
So what’s his grouse against Mission Kashmir? That the
film purportedly intended to highlight Kashmiriyat and the
problems of his homeland merely glosses over the real issues.
“It’s ordinary, commercial vendetta fare masquerading
as a movie on a sensitive issue,” he fumes.
Pandit should feel the pinch. He still shudders at the horrid
memories of that fateful January night, ten years ago, when
he and others of his tribe were forced to leave the state
they called home. “My people have suffered horrendous
human rights violations. The militants raped our women, tortured
our men and burnt our homes. This film doesn’t deal with
all these, only glorifies the militant. So much for Kashmiriyat,”
he bristles.
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POET, SCRIPTWRITER, USHER
CALCUTTA has to be one of the few cities in the world where
you can discover a rickshawpuller indulging in poetry, a Sikh
cabbie extolling the merits of a Ray film or an usher writing
scripts for films that are screened at the theatre which employs
him.
Meet Pinku Das. The diminutive young man works as an usher
in Ujjala, a well-known cinema hall of South Calcutta. It
all began when his poems were published in the annual number
of Deshabrati, a Bengali literary magazine. Thereafter, his
poems found themselves in print in other magazines as well,
such as Sahitya Bharati. He also wrote short stories and a
few of these were accepted by a few Bengali periodicals.
The drop-out from junior college was first hooked on to cinematography,
the basics of which he was keen to learn. The cinemaholic
watched films left, right and centre and got involved in group
theatre as an actor. And though he is the vertically challenged,
read short-statured sort, he’s rubbed shoulders with
the industry-folk as a bit-player in films. He worked as an
‘extra’ in quite a few Bengali films, till one day,
on the sets of a film called Hansaraj, he was insulted and
humiliated. Says the deceptively-cool-looking angry young
man, “I quit with the promise of returning to the same
studio to make the darwan who saw me out then, stand in solemn
salute.”
Has the dream been fulfilled? “To some extent,”
says Pinku who now has to his credit, the script of not less
than eight, full-length Bengali feature films. His latest,
namely Sinthir Sindoor, is even running to packed Calcutta
theatres. “My love for writing was inspired mainly from
my mother’s storytelling sessions. And I was a very good
listener. My knowledge of Bengali literature stems more from
listening than from reading because I do not read as much
as I listen to stories narrated to me.”
Reasonably good at drawing and sketching, Pinku also toyed
with commercial art for a while as he groped around for a
vocation in life. He did a short stint as a student of Indian
Art College, Entally and involved himself in designing hoardings
for a while. But films, films and films were what he invested
his dreams in. “Then, one fine morning, I found myself
assisting the chief stringer cameraman of Calcutta Doordarshan
on his daily reportage. I was paid the princely sum of Rs
10 per day but I was happy because I was doing what I always
wanted to do. Shankar Rakshit, my senior, introduced me to
photographer Nemai Ghosh, who soon became my guru in cinema,”
confides Pinku.
Pinku’s career in films got underway when he penned the
story of the hit, Amar Bandhan for which he was paid the token
amount of Rs 101. This was followed with stories for Alingan,
Surer Sathi and Apon Por. With Maandanda, Pinku also began
to write the script and dialogue in addition to creating the
storyline. Purushottam, directed by actor Prasenjeet followed,
with the Oriya film, Badshah and the current Sinthir Sindoor
close on its heels.
For a sought-after scriptie, what’s made Pinku work as
an usher in a cinema? “My father worked as an usher in
this very theatre, and when he passed away, I took on the
mantle.” And no, he isn’t about to give up the job
soon because “the greatest high, for me, is to see my
own name in the credits in the very theatre where I guide
cinebuffs to their seats.”
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SITTING
ON A GOLDMINE
SO what if SUBHASH GHAI hasn’t had a single movie
release all year? His Yaadein, which is into its third major
schedule, isn’t to hit the screens till May 2001. But,
believe it or not, Mukta Arts, which debuted on the stock
exchange only a couple of months ago, is expected to announce
an on-the-table profit of Rs 20 crore.
Thanks to the demand for movie software on the satellite channels,
the growing demand for audio products and the market overseas,
producers of Hindi films are in for a bonanza. The result
of all this is that ticket sales on the domestic market only
account for 35 percent of the total revenue they stand to
make from each film.
Add to these, the growing demand for the Internet rights of
films, and such novel money spinning propositions as in-film
advertising, Ghai has come to realise he’s sitting on
a goldmine. His Yaadein, for instance, has earned around Rs
5 crore by way of in-film advertising alone, which works up
to the total budget of the average movie.
There’s a catch to the story, though. While the ‘haves’
in moviedom like Ghai continue to grow richer, the poorer
producers are still struggling to find a market for their
films. But sure, that isn’t Ghai’s fault.
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CLONEPATI NO 1!
SO Anupam Kher and Manisha Koirala aren’t the only ones
to get the clonepati itch. Our very own chotte miyan, GOVINDA,
is in the mood to pit his charisma against bade miyan, Amitabh
Bachchan’s, too.
Chi Chi’s been signed to host a show on Sony, though
we don’t know for sure whether it’s going to be
a game show. But sources in Sony tell us it is. Govinda has
signed up for an 18 month deal with the channel which will
leave him richer by Rs 20 crore. The one-hour, four-days-a-week
show goes on air in mid-December, and will be based on a “uniquely
Indian concept.”
Among the shows USPs are that winners on the show are likely
to get non-taxable exciting booties such as flats, cars and
refrigerators in addition to money. Deals with corporate sponsors
are also being negotiated in time for the show’s December
launch.
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AN
UNEXPECTED BOUNTY
TALKING of Subhash Ghai reminds us of RAJESHWARI SACHDEV.
She’s cock-a-hoop at being signed by Ghai for a crucial,
challenging role in his forthcoming production, Rahul, being
directed by Prakash Jha.
“Don’t ask me about the role,” she raves, “Even
a walk-on role in a Subhash Ghai movie would be enticing enough.
Everything else is a bonus.” The offer has caught her
by total surprise, all of it pleasant, one might add.
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AWAITING THE CHACHA
FOR those waiting to watch AJAY DEVGAN and wife of a year,
Kajol together, here’s some good news. Their home production
(no, not a baby, silly!), Raju Chacha is well on its way.
The entire shoot has been wrapped up, with the last song,
a special effects wonder featuring nearly 4000 children, canned
on a set at Mumbai’s RK Studios.
The film, which is poised to hit theatres on December 28,
also stars Rishi Kapoor, Govind Namdeo and Shahbaz Khan, and
has music by Jatin-Lalit and background score by Karthik Raja.
Papa Veeru Devgan, of course, is the producer and Bharat Shah,
the presenter.
Hindustan Ki Kasam may have been a dream gone sour for the
Devgans. Can the Chacha work magic for them at the turnstiles?
Shaju George Alex
With inputs from Ayyappa Prasad & Shoma A Chatterjee.
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