Search the Internet          Tips  Sites: Finance, Investment

Ghai confident Yaadein will be a big hit

India's king of popular cinema, Subhash Ghai, is confident his latest film, Yaadein, with muscled heartthrob Hrithik Roshan, will be a hit - even before it opens at the box office.

The veteran director says the first release by his company, Mukta Arts Ltd, since it went public last September, has covered production costs and the advance booking has been overwhelming in theatres all over India.

The movie -- Ghai's first in two years -- premieres in Delhi, Bombay, New York and London this week and has already won glowing reviews.

"Ghai's Yaadein has all it takes to make a hit," the editor of Film Information, Komal Nahta, wrote in the latest issue.

The film, he added, would "sweep womenfolk off their feet".

One young computer professional who had a sneak preview of the movie was less enthusiastic. "I did not like the film. Some scenes were completely unrealistic and the story was very predictable," he said, though he did praise the performances of Roshan and fellow male star Jackie Shroff.

Ghai, chairman and managing director of Mukta Arts, India's only listed film production firm, said that the $3.8-million film dealt with fundamental human issues.

"Yaadein should do very well because it has the qualities people like -- sincerity and emotion," Ghai said. "I'm told the bookings have broken all records."

Track record

Yaadein is the tale of a father, played by Shroff, who is best known for action man roles, and his difficult relationship with his three teenage daughters.

"It's a message from children to parents not to try to run their lives," Ghai said.

The light-eyed Roshan, a smash hit in his debut film last January, plays the son of a rich family who falls in love with one of the daughters, Bollywood sensation Kareena Kapoor.

The director, famous for his brief appearances in his films in the style of Alfred Hitchcock, has an impressive track record over his 25-year career with all but two of the 14 films he has directed box-office successes.

"People say Hrithik has acted better than all his previous films in Yaadein," said the director, who likes foreign locations, big budgets and lilting music.

He described Kareena as an "instinctive, powerful actress".

Impressive figures

Ghai said the sentimental love story, produced at a cost of Rs 180 million, had made Rs 220 million before its release.

He said he had sold the domestic music rights for Rs 65 million -- the highest ever for a Bollywood film -- the international music rights for Rs 25 million and in-film advertising had fetched another Rs 30 million.

He had received a further Rs 84.4 million for selling rights to domestic cinemas. The remainder came from selling rights to satellite television and DVD makers.

"Since Mukta Arts is distributing the film in the Bombay region and overseas, we'll get 90 per cent of the revenues," Ghai said. He expected this to add up to Rs 120 million after a 10 per cent commission to other agents.

Mukta Arts' shares zoomed 62 per cent between May and June 13 to hit Rs 169.70 as investors bet the film would be a hit.

They have since retraced some ground, trading at Rs 118 on Thursday afternoon, still well above its 2001 low of Rs 89.20 on April 16.

"It worries me if it (the stock) grows more than the fundamentals," Ghai said. "I want a gradual rise for Mukta Arts."

The filmmaker said the firm, which reported first-quarter profits jumping 62.4 per cent to Rs 40.17 million, had signed up a slew of big-name directors like David Dhawan, Satish Kaushik, Abbas-Mustan, to ensure at least three films a year.

Other revenue streams included television programming, movie distribution, satellite rights to its film stock and the hiring out of state-of-the-art music and post-production studios.

Tell us what you think of this report