Talking Business

FORAY INTO MUMBAI TERRITORY
This week will see Thane sub-distributor Pradeep Singh opening his Mumbai distribution office with the release of the Sunil Shetty starrer, Krodh. Singh is quite excited about the film’s release, though it is not a very big one and has been personally supervising the publicity of the film during the last few weeks. In normal course, a distributor would have chosen a bigger and more prominent film to make a foray on the Mumbai distribution scene. But according to Singh, it is the smaller films that have greater potential and chance of getting a fair return on investments. “It is practically impossible to buy a big film these days, with the kind of prices the producers quote. Besides, you never know whether you are going to break even at all,” Singh says.

SHAHEED UDHAM SINGH
There is another interesting film scheduled for release this week which is likely to receive a good deal of appreciation, provided it reaches out to the right audience. The film in question is Shaheed Udham Singh, which was to be released by Shringar Films earlier, but has eventually gone to ABC Enterprises.

Shringar would have been the ideal distribution firm to release the film, looking at the way it has released similar films in the past. But there were some internal differences in Raj Babbar’s office that eventually prompted him to give the Mumbai and All-India rights to a different set of distributors.

JUNG IN THE NEWS
While Khauff had an insignificant response at the box-office last week, causing a lot of heartburn to most of its exhibitors, a raging controversy has erupted over another forthcoming Sanjay Dutt starrer, Jung. The common factor between Khauff and Jung is that both films are Sanjay Dutt starrers, directed by the same director Sanjay Gupta and to a great extent have the same set of distributors.

However, Jung has been through several ups and downs and long delays, with differences of opinion between its producer Satish Tandon and director Sanjay Gupta. Tandon, who is extremely sensitive to any comments about his film, is also upset about the way Gupta had been projecting reports of the film to distributors in the trade. It is not known how the film has shaped, but according to a distributor who has bought the rights of the film, the presence of Sanjay Dutt in the cast is a big advantage, and there is no question of distributors having second thoughts about it. At the moment, Sanjay Dutt’s portion in the film is still to be dubbed, and Tandon has reportedly sought the intervention of the Cine Artistes Association to sort out the problem.

MAKING WAVES
Meanwhile, Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai continues to make waves at the box-office, providing relief for all those exhibitors who have acquired it for their theatres. Among them is Rajkumar Bajaj, of Eros, who is expecting the film to do silver jubilee business at his theatre.

Another person who is mighty pleased with the business of the film is Nizam distributor, Farhad Nathani, who has been smiling ever since the release of the film. At a time when business in most A class theatres in Hyderabad has gone down, Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai is going strong, gathering packed audiences week after eventful week.

The success of the film has also proved to be a big advantage for all Hrithik Roshan starrers on the floor. These are currently getting some of the best offers from distributors.

MUSIC VIDEOS TO THE FORE
After non-film music albums, it is now re-mixes and music videos which have become big business in the market, with music companies and producers of music videos allotting fantastic budgets for their shoots. Recently, the producer of Hera Pheri, Firoze Nadiadwala, specially made six film-promos because he felt song-promos do not have the same kind of impact and go almost unregistered with the way music videos are wooing the audiences. According to Nadiadwala, a whole story is told in a music video incorporating some of the best sets, costumes and brilliant cinematography, which affected the response to the song-promos of some recently released films.

Now it is Nitin Manmohan who has gone one step further and actually shot a song promo, which will also feature in the titles of his film Chal Mere Bhai. The song in question has been sung by Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan but it was composed with a separate tune and lyrics for the promos and rendered by Shankar Mahadevan and Leslie Lewis, who will feature in this particular promo with Salman, Sanjay and Karisma Kapoor. According to producer Nitin Manmohan, the song is bound to catch the attention of the young audience, when it starts screening on the satellite channels shortly.

Manisha Deshpande