May 24, 1999

As the World Cup and the coming election threaten to hijack viewers, the industry gears for battle with an array of films.

By Anupama Chopra

I'm so nervous, I feel like I'm sitting for an exam," Subhash Ghai confides. Unwashed and unshaven at 11:30 a.m., he looks like a marathon runner panting through the last mile. Life these days is a flurry of post-production work -- mixing, dubbing and publicity. Taal, Ghai's 14th film, releases in eight weeks. Twenty-two years, 13 films, 11 hits -- Ghai's track record is to kill for. Yet the producer-director is tense: in the movie business you're only as good as your last hit. And, as Ghai puts it, "a filmmaker never rests".

This summer, there are going to be a lot of nervous people in Bollywood. Between end-May and end-August, squeezed between the World Cup and the looming general election, a record of over 20 movies will release. At stake: reputations and over Rs 150 crore. Mega makers, armed with big stars, new sounds, exotic locations, a "different" script and hardcore marketing strategies will try and seduce a distracted audience. As cricket and politics hijack the viewers, Bollywood is gearing for battle.

They have their work cut out. So far, 1999 has been a dismal movie year. There has been no universal hit despite the release of as many as 46 films in the first four months of the year. Instead only sectional successes like Hum Aapke Dil Main Rahte Hain, Daag-The Fire and more recently, Sarfarosh -- films that are box-office hits in one territory but losers in another. Film Information's Komal Nahta estimates losses of Rs 50 crore and the trade is desperately hoping that the summer will throw up a Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (KKHH)-type blockbuster. Though producers have devised strategies to avoid cannibalising each other's business -- they have talked to each other to space out releases and make sure that two major films don't release on the same date -- audiences can look forward to at least one release a week. "For the first time in many years so many big movies are bunched together," says distributor Shravan Shroff. "It's really dangerous." Ramesh Taurani, director of Tips Industries Pvt Ltd, appropriately calls it Bollywood's "make or break summer".

It is the season for triangles. There are at least five movies this summer, which will give the boy-meets-girl-meets-boy story a "fresh" twist. For starters, Taal, which like every Ghai product, is raising great expectations. Ghai describes it as a love story between "a boy (Akshaye Khanna), a girl (Aishwarya Rai) and a man (Anil Kapoor)." "Taal is vibration and rhythm, the chemistry between two people. For the first time in my career, I've made a romantic story, which is dangerous for a man my age." Taal, shot for a Rs 11-crore plus budget, traces the journey of a singer-dancer, from Chamba to the Royal Albert Hall in London. It is, Ghai says, his most "experimental film to date", with "realistic characterisation" but what's really getting the trade excited is the music. Taal is Ghai's first collaboration with A.R. Rahman and the music, seven songs and five music pieces, is generating great buzz. Tips allegedly paid Rs 4 crore plus for the music rights and Taal's overseas territory has sold for a rumoured Rs 7 crore plus. If the film works, it will resuscitate the near comatose careers of Khanna and Aishwarya. Manisha Koirala and Mahima Chaudhary were strong contenders for the coveted role, which Aishwarya eventually bagged because of her dancing prowess.

Aishwarya's other opportunity to salvage her reputation is Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (HDDCS). Another love triangle, with Salman Khan and Ajay Devgan vying for her affection. Though Bhansali's debut film Khamoshi flopped, it established his reputation as a sensitive director and hopes are high that the Rs 16.5 crore-HDDCS is the summer blockbuster. Creating hype are the promos, which feature Aishwarya in traditional Indian attire for a change, and the music, composed by debutant composer Ismail Darbar. The film has been shot on locations in Kutch, Jaisalmer and Hungary. Says Bhansali: "It is a love story about three good human beings who retain their dignity in the worst crisis. It says that in love there is no place for bitterness and that there is a good human being in everyone." And no, he's not particularly worried about Aishwarya's record. "She is a director's actress. There is fire simmering in her but you have to tap it."

The third triangle of the summer is Mann. Directed by Inder Kumar, the Rs 12-crore movie has been filmed in Bangkok, Malaysia, Singapore and Kashmir as well as on board a cruise ship. The plot? Imagine a cross between An Affair to Remember, Titanic and Speed II, says the industry grapevine. Not so, declares producer Ashok Thakeria. "It's a simple, emotional story with the best music from all our films," he says, admitting to inspiration from the Cary Grant classic An Affair ..., but denying any links with the James Cameron blockbuster. The Aamir Khan-Manisha Koirala starrer will have music by a fresh duo Sanjeev-Darshan, composer Shravan's sons. Warren Beatty failed when he remade An Affair ... but director Inder Kumar is hoping to do better. The Kumar-Thakeria team has made a hat-trick of hits and Thakeria is hoping to strike gold the fourth time as well.

For those in the mood for something less serious, there's Sohail Khan's Hello Brother, a love triangle starring brothers Salman and Arbaaz opposite flavour of the month, Rani Mukherjee. But with the catch-line, "Have Fun", and Salman playing a courier boy, the film is low on melodrama and high on comedy. Producer Bunty Walia promises "loads of laughter".

As does producer Vashu Bhagnani with the David Dhawan-directed Biwi No. 1, a comedy featuring at least half of Bollywood's stars. Anil Kapoor and Tabu are a Punjabi couple, Salman is a yuppie and Karisma his traditional docile wife, Sushmita Sen is a sexy young thing and Saif Ali Khan her silent admirer. And the plot? With a Dhawan film, that's hardly important. Viewers can be assured of logic-less situations and plenty of laughs. Since Bhagnani has earlier spun gold out of Coolie No. 1 and Hero No. 1, reports on Biwi are steaming hot. The other Dhawan film, Haseena Maan Jayegi, hasn't generated the same buzz but the Dhawan-Govinda team has a staple audience and for good measure, debutante producer Smita Thackrey has also roped in Sanjay Dutt, Karisma and Pooja Batra.

Ajay Devgan also makes his debut as producer with Hindustan Ki Kasam, directed by father, action director Veeru Devgan. The Rs 10 crore plus film, teams up Ajay with Amitabh Bachchan, who plays a freedom fighter. Hindustan Ki Kasam, releasing on July 23, has some high-octane action with Ajay para-gliding at 20,000 feet and jumping from one plane to the other. But in August, he undergoes a role reversal, playing a yuppie with marital woes in Prakash Jha's Dil Kya Kare, a family drama, also starring wife Kajol. But the catch is that he's married to Mahima Chaudhary and not to Kajol.

And rounding off the summer are Boney Kapoor's Rs 15 crore-plus army love story Pukar -- "the call of love, of duty, of conscience". Kapoor isn't confirming but grapevine has it that Pukar has Madhuri Dixit playing a character with negative shades, a career first. Kapoor, as always, has spent lavishly -- Pukar was shot in Kashmir and overseas in Alaska and Mexico. "I don't want to comment on the budget," he says, "I've made a film with full honesty and conviction." In end-August, the film will face stiff competition from Abbas-Mustan's comic thriller Badshah. The director duo team up with Shah Rukh Khan and look set to repeat the Baazigar success. Says producer Ratan Jain: "If it was any other film, I would be concerned about the competition but not with Badshah." Dillagi, actor Sunny Deol's much-troubled directorial debut starring himself, brother Bobby and Urmila Matondkar may also hit the screen then.

Amidst these multicrore Goliaths, several small movies will try and make a mark. Sony's first distribution venture Pyar Mein Kabhi Kabhi, about a group of college friends, hits the screen in June. Sangharsh, director Tanuja Chandra's reworking of the Silence of the Lambs with Preity Zinta, follows later. Bachchan will try his umpteenth comeback, playing father and son in Sooryavansham and Sanjay Kapoor will make his last attempt at stardom with Sirf Tum. Director Sawan Kumar Tak's geriatric romance, Mother '98 may eventually materialise in the summer of '99. And Govinda fans can overdose on Rajaji, Hadh Kardi Aapne and Hum Tum Pe Marte Hain.

Every maker is hoping to zero in on the crucial urban youth and family audience that turned films like KKHH and Dil To Pagal Hai into megahits. "Earlier, we used to think about what would run in B and C-class centres," says Thakeria, "but now our perspective has changed." Today, the smaller centre business is almost an afterthought. But will so many films find adequate support? "It's unhealthy," says distributor Tolu Bajaj. "Business gets divided and everybody is affected." Adds Shroff: "If two big films flop, it will depress the whole market."

But Kapoor, a die-hard optimist isn't afraid. "Earlier a film needed to run for 25 weeks to make money. Today a clean two-week run is enough to collect a good bounty," he says. Besides as director Ram Gopal Varma puts it: "Every year, pundits predict doomsday and still, somehow the industry survives. And anyway, even if all of us mess up, Sooraj Barjatya, the knight in shining armour will ride in on Diwali with Hum Saath Saath Hain and save the industry like he always does." But Diwali is six months away and the summer promises to be a real scorcher.

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