Return
to Story Page
To print: Select File and then Print from your
browser's menu
M S M Desai
MUMBAI, JULY 1: It had all the makings of a typical Bollywood tear jerker -- heros and heroines from the industry performing at a show to raise money for the brave jawans fighting in Kargil, apart from the lakhs they would donate. Only that it may well turn out to be a non-event. Bollywood big wigs had decided at a meeting to get the filmstars to donate and also contribute the proceedings of a star-studded musical show on July 25 for jawans. The hitch -- over a week after this pompous declaration, none of the heros and heroines of the industry have come forward to contribute.
Oddly, in their next meeting, not only had the show slipped from the collective memories of the producers and directors, the contributions also hadn't begun pouring in. Meanwhile, U A Thadani , President of Theatre Owners Assocaition and N N Sippy, Indian Motion Picture Distributors Association president who had declared that the proceedings from one show of all the theatres in India would be donated for the Kargil victims, wereconspicuous by their absence at the meeting. Nor did Asha Parekh, president of the Cine Artistes Association consider it necessary to attend the meeting.
And finally, at a poor attempt at solidarity, they decided to send a few film stars to the hospitals where wounded jawans were being treated. Even in this efforts the Cine Artistes Assocaition did not take the responsibility of organising stars and it was left to Yash Raj, Yash Johar and Ramesh Taurani to get the stars to visit hospitals while Vinod Khanna took the responsibility of contacting the Army Headquarters to fix the date and time.
The response from Bollywood is in sharp contrast to the showing of the South Indian film industry, which has set up a target of Rs 15 crore. All the Hindi film industry managed to wheedle out of Bollywood, which deals in crores of rupees day in and day out, was a measly Rs three lakh. While Yash Chopra and Yash Johar contributed Rs 1 lakh each, Shah Rukh Khan gave Rs 50,000. ``Why did Yash Chopra and Yash Joharcontribute just Rs one lakh each. They could have easily given at least Rs one crore if not ten crores since their films have earned profits to the tune of Rs 70 crore and Rs 100 crores. Their income tax itself might come to more than Rs 10 crores,'' said one of the members who attended but did not want to be identified.
Meanwhile, there seems to be some confusion about the musical show. Vinod Khanna is reported to have objected to holding the musical show as it would amount to celebration. The situation, he said, didn't call for such a grand show. And Shakti Samanta, president of the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association, stated that while the details for the show hadn't been finalised, there was no doupt the show would be held. Surinder Kapoor, president of the Film Producers Guild of India said that the contributions from the stars were taking a long time coming because most of them like Shah Rukh Khan and Anil Kapoor were not in town.
Now, the film industry has received one more proposition fromthe Bengal Mumbai Football Assocaition to hold football matches between the team and the film stars. Industry response is still awaited.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
------------------------------------------------------------
This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
------------------------------------------------------------