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'Audiences make up their minds not to see films before they release'
Mahesh Manjrekar on why he decided to release Hathyar in October instead of November
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Subhash K Jha
Things couldn't get any worse for the Hindi film industry.
Or so prolific director Mahesh Manjrekar seems to believe. When asked why he was rushing through the release of his sequel to Vaastav, Manjrekar says, "What is the point in waiting? People are not coming into theatres to see movies. Audiences are making up their minds not to see films even before their release. It is a very sorry state of affairs.
"Earlier, a film's fate was decided on a Monday. Now its fate is decided even before it releases. A few years ago, a film that ran for 100 days was a hit and 25 weeks was superhit. Now, the whole trade has changed. All the profits are accrued within the first two weeks of a film's release. How long can we wait for things to improve?"
The sequel to his successful Vaastav, entitled Hathyar, features Sanjay Dutt again. Scheduled to release in November or December, the film will now release October 18. The music of the film is yet to be released.
Manjrekar hopes to get in the audience that saw Vaastav plus a whole new audience wanting to experience a new Sanjay Dutt film into theatres. "Even if I can get half of the audience that I did for Vaastav, Hathyar will be a plus (profitable) undertaking."
Manjrekar explains, "Audiences make up their minds to see only certain films. They see the rest on cable after two weeks. This year, [Sanjay Leela Bhansali's] Devdas was on the audiences' priority list. Now, it is Kaante. Everyone keeps asking me when it is opening. I'm sure it will get a bumper opening."
The director who has a starring role in Sanjay Gupta's Kaante, also starring Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Suniel Shetty, Lucky Ali and Kumar Gaurav, says he will take up more acting assignments only when he gets something as challenging Kaante.
Speaking on the improbability of sequels working in Hindi cinema, Manjrekar retorts, "But where are the sequels in Hindi? Harmesh Malhotra's Nigahen is said to be a sequel to his Nagina. But in reality, the characters in the second film did not flow out of the first. In Hathyar, Sanjay Dutt plays the son of the character he played in Vaastav."
Right now, Manjrekar is excited about an experimental film which he is making. "It is a 90-minute film called The Struggler, inspired by an experience I once had with an aspiring actor who would hang around everywhere I went or was expected to go. I felt I was being stalked. I finally told the guy to leave me alone.
"I plan to finish this film in six days. A theatre actor will play the title role. There is only one character in the film. And he will talk directly into the camera. It is an amazing concept. It makes a lot of comments on the human condition. I am producing the film for Rs 20 lakhs. I will promote it at international festivals."
Manjrekar says he has nothing to lose by making The Struggler. "The industry is in an alarming condition. And we only have ourselves to blame. If one thriller runs, we all run to make thrillers. What about the dozen thrillers that flopped before that? More than the herd mentality it is the ostrich mentality. They do not want to analyse where they are going wrong. That is why I am excited about my experimental film. I know I will not lose money because I have made it for Rs 20 lakhs. I will eventually sell it to a television channel for Rs 30 lakhs. That way, I am not only minimising my losses but also making the film I really believe in."
Commenting reluctantly on his participation in the taped conversation with the underworld don Chhota Shakeel, Manjrekar says, "Fear can make a man do desperate things. When I spoke to him, I was responding to a sudden telephonic communication. I was a family man with liabilities. I called him Sir in our conversation. In such a situation, you just want it to somehow end; you want to get out of it. It was such a nightmare!
"When it [the taped conversation between him, Sanjay Dutt and Chhota Shakeel] was published two years later, I was so scared of being branded as a person who interacts with the underworld."
Nevertheless, Manjrekar says the underworld participation in Bollywood is no longer major, "because there is no money in our films right now."