Dream Team

He doesn’t make thrillers, yet holds all in suspense. Rajshri’s Sooraj R. Barjatya Hum Saath Saath Hain (hssh) will hit theatres (and expectedly paydirt) worldwide on November 5. Diwali, which normally sets off fireworks on the big screen, will this year see modest releases like the Ramgopal Varma-produced Shool, the Ajay Devgan-starrer Gair and Nagesh Kukunoor’s Rockford. Clearly, when a Barjatya film happens, others keep away. Even Sunny Deol’s Dillagi, scheduled for Diwali, will now be released on November 19. Despite such wariness, the industry fervently awaits a repeat of the Hum Apke Hain Kaun (hahk) success story.

According to trade analyst Amod Mehra, hssh, it’s hoped, will double the success (and turnover) of hahk, Indian film industry’s all-time winner that grossed Rs 100 crore. Since this followed his smash hit Maine Pyar Kiya, expectations of a hat trick are inevitable. The run-up to the latest Rajshri fare is typical Barjatya, so atypical of Bollywood.
The hssh tableau will be overcast with stars - Salman paired with Sonali, Karisma with Saif Ali, Mohnish Behl, Neelam (in a sister’s role), Tabu, Mahesh Thakur, Aloknath, Satish Shah, Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Shakti Kapoor, Kalpana Iyer, Jayshree T., and 14 singers of the ilk of Anuradha Paudwal and Sonu Nigam. While the storyline’s a close-kept secret, Mehra concedes it’s a remake of Raj Khosla’s Do Raaste (1969), a blockbuster which encapsulates the Rajshri formula - the joys of a large joint family. A reiteration of Barjatya’s statement on hahk which, for him, was "a tribute to all joint families of the country. Because there’s no bond of togetherness as in a joint family. It’s everybody’s story". Which explains why families went in droves to see hahk. Any other production house, putting out this line to sell its music, would be rammed for overdoing its saccharine act. Not Rajshri. For them, "the family that sings together stays together".

And as with all things big today, hssh too has an element of fizz. According to reports, Coke has shelled out Rs 1.5 crore to "advertise the film through various media". Co-branding, which began with Taal and Coke, seems here to stay.The family act’s already been sold for Rs 25 crore abroad on a minimum guarantee -  which

means after the distributors recovers his money, he pays royalty to Rajshri. The music by Raam-Lakshman (like actor Behl, a fixture in all Barjatya films and chosen over Lata Mangeshkar when she fell out with the composers) has also been bought by hmv for Rs 6 crore. The runner-up, though not quite in that league, is Taal’s music, sold for Rs 3.75 crore. In order to trip ubiquitous and insidious piracy, Rajshri will trick the market by flooding it. For hahk, Rajshri kept the market under leash by releasing just a few prints. This time there’ll be an unprecedented 169 prints in the Mumbai territory alone, 125 for overseas, and a total of 500 prints. In a city like Pune, where big-budgets are normally released in just two or three theatres, hssh will be released in seven halls. Exhibitors are rubbing hands in eager anticipation. In Mumbai, where they’re allowed to hike ticket rates, the amount per foil’s yet to be decided. Mumbai’s Liberty Cinema, Mehra says, has shut down counters this week to redo its air-conditioning at Rs 25-lakh.
Though Rajshri will do its own distribution, exhibitors are expected to rake it in and plough some money back into an industry plagued by flops. This year, despite 70 to 80 releases, Biwi No 1 was the only all-India hit. Sarfarosh did well only in Mumbai, the south and Delhi, while even Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam didn’t make it countrywide. Sanjay Dutt-starrer Vaastav made it only in Mumbai, not even scraping by in Gujarat, while Taal’s success was limited to Mumbai and the Nizam territory. Baadshah, Mann, Earth, Hello Brother, Dil Kya Kare, Hindustan Ki Kasam and Mast too disappointed. Even films like Godmother and Sar Ankhon Par, where distributors were requested to release them without advance payment, have been damp squibs. In Nashik, Sar Ankhon Par had to be withdrawn from theatres since it had no audience. Raj Kumar Santoshi’s Pukaar, which generated enough interest to get an initial investment of Rs 2.5 crore per territory has, since it overshot its budget to almost Rs 18 crore, found it tough to find sub-distributors. Hence expectations over hssh are peaking, as is hope. As Barjatya explained earlier: "With the advent of video and cable TV, people’s expectations have been rising. They expect every film to be an event." So, this Diwali, await a blast.