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Filmdom hitches a ride on small screen’s shoulder
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MUMBAI Filmdom, faced with a depressed market, has now cashed
in on the clout of the small screen and the popularity of
the gameshows Jeeto Chhapar Phaad Ke and Kaun Banega Crorepati,
to lure audiences back to the theatres.
On Friday three ‘new’movies will open. Two Amitabh
starrers and one of Govinda’s. Nothing quite wrong with
that, except that an unsuspecting audience is likely to be
hit with a strong sense of deja vu.
In a clever move to exploit the current popular status of
Chi Chi and the Big B, distributors are returning superhits
like Khuddar and Coolie in their new avatars as Karodpati
and Coolie Ban Gaya Karodpati from March 23. The Chi Chi starrer
Gambler is also coming back as Juwari Jeeta Chhapar Phaad
Ke.
Sources in Anugraha Entertainment Ltd which hold distribution
rights for Khuddar have confirmed that the movie will be opening
with its new name in Capitol, Jaihind, Kohinoor, Sahakar,
Plaza and other cinema theatres. “This is not the first
time this is being done so where is the harm,” pointed
out the source referring to instances of how flop movies of
an actor were revived once he or she delivered a string of
hits.
He denied that this practice was misleading the public. “A
careful look at the poster is enough to indicate that this
is an old movie,” he pointed out, leaving out how the
word Karodpati has been highlighted in bold while the original
name Khuddar appears in very small type at the bottom of the
poster.
Similarly the poster for Coolie Ban Gaya Karodpati promises
“to provide you entertainment worth a crore for the price
of ticket.”
Although this is not a new trend, producer Kulbhushan Gupta
is upset that after a film is released the movie’s rights
move into the hands of distributors.
Shyam Shroff of Shringar Films too is disapproving. He does
not believe that such a move will in the long run help boost
filmdom’s sagging fortunes. “The already battered
image of the film industry will take a further beating among
the masses because of these practices,” he said.
But one of the distributors of both the Bachchan films said
while these practices may seem gimmicky they have drawn huge
crowds in the smaller towns particularly in the North (UP,
MP, Bihar). “With the markets down and many new films
sinking without a trace we have lost a lot of money,”
he said, defending the decision. “We are not forcing
people to go into the cinema halls. They are doing so of their
own accord,” he added.
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