Talking Business

BRAVING THE MILLENNIUM FEVER
With the Ramzan season having begun, exhibitors expect the collections of most films to show a slight drop at all centres. This time however, the business is likely to be affected only in the first two weeks, since the third and the fourth week will be marked by the festive season of Christmas and New Year. Probably it is for this very reason that Metro’s Nester D’Souza is looking forward to the December 23rd release of Suneil Darshan’s Jaanwar, which has been booked for the theatre.

According to D’Souza, the Ramzan fervour this year is likely to be felt only in the first two weeks after which the audience will patronise the theatres in full strength in the weekend prior to Christmas. Currently, he is also busy, getting ready for the Idd release of Mela, which will have Metro as one of the main theatres. Co-incidentally, this is the second time that the Darshan brothers will have films releasing in quick succession. The last time, it was Suneil Darshan’s Ajay and Dharmesh’s Raja Hindustani, which were released one after the other, with the two films getting varied responses. D’Souza who has earlier released Dharmesh Darshan’s Lootere and Raja Hindustani, expects both Jaanwar and Melaer to make a mark at Metro.

The Mumbai distributors of Jaanwar, the Manchandas, who are releasing a film in Mumbai territory after almost three years, are also confident about the film with the way it has shaped up.

BEST BET FOR VENUS
Coming back to Mela, the producers, Venus Entertainment are planning to make the release of the film a big affair at Metro. One of the plans which is being currently chalked out is to decorate the lobby of the theatre and give it the look of a ‘happening’ fair (Mela) in town.

Interestingly, while Jaanwar has been seen by most of its distributors and exhibitors, Mela remains a top secret, even with its producer Ratan Jain, who admits he has not seen the film yet and is hoping to see it next week. Jain who has been independently overseeing the film-production department, is eagerly looking forward to the New Year release, which is expected to make up for the non-descript collections in the past few films. With the budget of the film running into crores of rupees and the time it has taken for completion (almost three years), this film is understably a very crucial one for Venus.

SIDE-LINED? SAYS WHO?
While on Venus, last week it was reported in this column that the music-release of Boney Kapoor’s Pukaar was a rather hush-hush affair. There were also reports in the trade that Venus was far too preoccupied with promoting its home-production, Mela, as a result of which it was not being able to give due justice to the music promotion of Pukaar. It is not known whether this led to any dissatisfaction on the part of the producer Boney Kapoor. The music of Boney Kapoor’s last film Sirf Tum was released by T-Series, which has gone out of its way to publicise it in the best possible way, though the film is not even half as big as Pukaar. It is also ironical that Boney Kapoor has given the music rights of his next film to Tips.

But Venus’s Ratan Jain has now dismissed the reports as mere rumours circulated by vested interests in the trade. Jain has also clarified that there is absolutely no question of sidelining the music of another film and giving priority to a home-production. “Why should we allow the music of a film to go unnoticed when we pay a fortune to acquire the music-rights? Pukaar is a big film and we consider it a privilege to have acquired its music-rights,” Jain said.

According to him, the timing of the promotion has everything to do with the release date of a film, so that it reaches a high-pitched activity just before the release. With Pukaar now being scheduled for a February 23 release, the priority currently is Jaanwar and Mela, after which the focus will be exclusively on Pukaar.

ALL ABOUT RELEASE STRATEGIES
The other music companies like T-Series are doing some meticulous planning to time their music-releases. Right now, T-Series reportedly has some 7-8 music-releases lined up for the next two months, including Hadh Kardi Aapne, Dil Ki Dhadkan and Chal Mere Bhai.

But the powers-that-be in T-series have been trying to ensure that they do not release any of the music in a hurry, as a result of which they have been keeping a safe gap between two music-releases. One of the films in the waiting is R Mohan’s Raja Ko Rani Se Pyar Ho Gaya. The producer of the film is eager to see that its music of the film is released at the earliest, so that he can accordingly schedule the release of the film. But T-Series is trying to evolve a different strategy for the music-release, looking at the content of the film and the fact that it has some very good special-effects meant for children. On the other hand, T-Series is also planning to have a very big music release in January for its home-production, Papa The Great.

SHRINGAR’S NEXT
After releasing Mahesh Mathai’s Bhopal Express, last week, Shringar Films is now on to another release, this time a Gujarati film by the name of Dariya Choru. The film, scheduled for a December 17 release, is being directed by Vipul Shah, the director of the famous serial Ek Mahal Ho Sapnon Ka on Sony TV. The main attraction in the film, apart from some notable Hindi artistes is Shefali Chhaya of Satya fame, who has been conspicuously missing from the scene, despite the success of the film. The only notable Gujarati film which did record business was Desh Re Joya Dada Pardes Joya, which saw the Gujarati audience thronging to the theatres to see the film.

DUBBED SPINE CHILLER
Among the forthcoming Hollywood attractions is the spine-chilling, Denzel Washington starrer, The Bone Collectors, which is being released by Columbia Tristar on January 7.

The interesting news is that Columbia Tristar has decided to dub the film in Hindi as Khatarnak Katil, which will be released simultaneously alongwith the original version on January 7.

Manisha Deshpande