Move to keep tainted producers out
Distributors and exhibitors are a scared lot, following the arrest of producer, Nazim Rizvi, whose film Chori Chori Chupke Chupke was due for release all over India and abroad on December 22. Now that there is no chance of the film being released on time, the only other release, Champion, starring Sunny Deol and Manisha Koirala, has a clear field.

Vinay Choksi of VIP could not say when the Rizvi film would be released, as the world rights controller, Bharat Shah was in regular meetings with the police, who were interrogating him for financing Chori Chori Chupke Chupke and finding out whether he was aware of Rizvi’s connections with the underworld.

Meanwhile, the police have also summoned the stars of the film, including Salman Khan and Rani Mukherji. Though the whole incident has created a scare in the film industry, the leaders are engaged in finding out how best to stop the entry of such producers into their associations.

Sangram Shirke, officiating president of the Western India Film Producers Association (WIFPA) said that all the producers bodies should sit together and decide on the course of action because if a tainted producer does not get entry in one association he would try the other association. To avoid this, a scrutiny committee representing WIFPA, Film Producers Guild of India, the Association of Motion Picture & TV Programme Producers and the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association should be formed to approve the entry as a producer, he opined.

‘Yes’ to European fare
Indian cineastes will soon get the chance to see more of the non-Hollywood foreign films. Shringar Films hope to bring European cinema soon to the cinema houses through its network.

Shyam Shroff of Shringar Films told SCREEN that he had already bought two French films Taxi, which has been dubbed in English, and Salsa which will be shown with English sub-titles. He bought Salsa, a musical love story, at the Yokohama Film Festival held recently. The film is directed by Joyce Bunuel, who scripted the film with Jean-Claude Carrieo. Taxi, directed by Gerard Piers, on the other hand, is an action-packed film. Both films are due in January, he said.

Shyam Shroff is also planning to buy Ice Rink, which was an entry at the recently-concluded MAMI film festival in Mumbai. "The discerning city audiences are dying to see different kinds of films but they do not get opportunity. Over the years, Shringar has built up a reputation for screening films with aesthetic value in regular theatres along with commercial films. With some films, we do manage to earn money and with some films we loose money, but that is all part of the game, and the same happens with commercial films, too ," he added.

The need of the hour
Negotiations are on to acquire the distribution rights of Aparna Sen’s Paromater Ek Din, Anupam Kher’s Bariwali, and the Kannada film, Deviree, all of which were shown at the MAMI film festival in Mumbai. Shyam Shroff said he is planning to buy foreign films from different countries which will appeal to the Indian audience.

"We are exposed to different kinds of cinema only during the film festivals. The success of film festivals has shown that there is a sizeable audience dying to see such fare. That’s why we need smaller cinemas. And that is possible if more multiplexes are constructed. It is high time the government of Maharashtra lays down its policy so that more multiplexes are constructed in the state," said Shroff.

MSM Desai