dada never dies

Dada never dies

The queue was long. People waited patiently for their film tickets. “Bhai sahib yeh super hit film hai. Dekhe bina mat jaiye,” said one of the men standing in the queue. Outside the hall, there were a huge number of vehicles. The film was Pyar Ka Karz, the vehicles were cycle rickshaws, the day was yesterday. The venue was Hans Cinema, Azadpur Mandi where the 1990 film is running full house. The poster has a helicopter from which two ambassador cars are hanging amid flames, Dharmendra wielding a rocket launcher, Mithun firing bullets from a machine gun, Sonam firing oomph. By the way the user rating of this film on imd.com is 10 on 10. I won’t reveal the number of votes!

Hans is not a standalone. There are other movie halls in the national capital that survive on people’s appetite for B grade and M Grade (M grade is exclusively Mithun) despite the multiplexes that have devoured a huge number of these old halls.

Return of the bombs
We were inspired to go around check out these cinema halls because the bombs have returned in the market – in the form of Dharmendra’s rocket launchers, and human bombs in the form of the Sonams of the 1980s. Moser Baer has launched a number of CDs, mostly from the 80s and 90s with the Pyar Ka Karz profile. So on my last round to a posh music store I bought Atank Hi Atank (Aamir Khan, Rajnikant), Dance Dance (Mithun, Smita Patil), Roti Ki Kimat (Mithun), Izzat Ki Roti (Sunny) and Danveer (Mithun). The CDs come for Rs 28, and DVDs for Rs 34. And they are selling like momos. The CDs can also be bought off their website, www.moserbaerhomevideo.com , and there are no shipping charges if you order 20 or more titles. One can order 50 titles at one go, they are so fascinating. It’s been a while, and the company has launched videos in regional languages too, of which Tamil films are hotsellers.

We spoke to the CEO of Moser Baer Home Video, Mr G Dhananjayan, who tells that the trade is doing well in all states. They’ve launched over 300 titles in Hindi films, out of which 100 are doing very well. “In videos, 60 per cent of the business comes from old catalogues and the rest from new films. While super hit to hit films are selling in major cities, the B & C grade films (with violence and sex) sell mostly in smaller towns and villages. Hence, overall, there is a market for all catalogue titles in India,” he tells. Their plans are ambitious and they’ll soon acquire rights for over 7000 films. The prices are bound to come down.

Sarkar ka darbar
Back to Hans, which has to be commended on its sense of discipline. People stand in queues patiently, they are scanned while entering and have to forfeit their guthkas and bidis. Of late Bhojpuri films have been doing well as well, and Bhojpuri stars have come and performed here. “There are only two kinds of films that run packed house here – Mithun and Bhojpuri,” the manager tells.

A little distance away on the main road is Akash cinema hall, which is not a Mithun specialist like Hans, but runs old movies too. There’s Metro construction going on there, so the business is low. But the trade at a CD store next to the hall is unaffected. Why? Because they have one rack full of Mithun, and another full of Bhojpuri films. “Mithun to hamare sarkar hain. Roti inhi se chalti hai. Amitabh aur baki sab to kuch nahi hain inke saamne,” the shop owner says. Bhojpuri is not just famous in its belt that is Azadpur, but the CDs sell at the stalls at Nizamuddin dargah as well.

The cabin in Robin
We head back on the Hans road, cross Pratap Bagh, where there are ancient gates under which the road passes. The gates are a shelter to pigs, cows, men and excreta of all three species, and the gates have a huge notice, “Those who deface the monument will be fined Rs 5000.” As we reach Ghantaghar, there is Amba cinema hall on the right. It’s also one of those old halls, but manages to run mainstream movies. A little ahead after the round about is Robin. You can easily miss it; it’s in the heart of the crowded lane of Subzi Mandi and just a small iron gate leads inside.

Inside, it expands all of a sudden. We are welcomed by the ticket distributor, who also turns out to be the manager. The film playing by the way is Sunny starrer Izzat Ki Roti. The manager, however, is finding it hard to survive on his Izzat ki roti, for he earns Rs 3965 as his salary after having worked there for 28 years. Only forty tickets have sold today, and Sharma sighs that it’s not long before the hall might have to close down. They rent a film for Rs 4000, and get about around eight times on that still. I advise him that he should get more Mithun films, which he notes down seriously. I ask why there’s no parking lot around. “In the old days, people used to get three things for dowry – Murphy radio, HMT wrist watch, and bicycle. So they used to come rising on cycles, and for that you do not need a parking lot,” he chuckles. Food for thought. Most old halls do not have a proper parking lot.

The manager presents us with three posters as we promise to come back next week for a show – Pyaasi Haveli (Ramsay Bros.), Sone Pe Suhaga (Dharmendra, Jeetendra, Anil Kapoor!), Karz (Sunny, Sunil Shetty).

So the deal is clear, either buy from the deluge of these CDs or head to Hans and Robin. And remember there’s no parking!