First Day First show

During a Dussherra festival at the historic Begum Hazrat Mahal park at Lucknow in 1973, as we waited for the proceedings to begin, a roar went up in the air. No, it was not that Ravan had been set ablaze or vanar sena with Ram and Sita had entered the ground. It was just that the loudspeaker started playing ‘yaari hai imaan mera yaar meri zindagi……..’ This was from the surprise hit of 1973, Zanjeer. The public had somehow given a thumbs up to this film and it had been running to packed houses in nearby ‘Tulsi’ theatre . Pran, a hated villain till now became a most loved character astiste after this film. This song ‘yaari hai…’ , picturised on Pran, remained on top of Binaca geetmala till it became a ‘sartaj geet’ and had to be forcefully retired even though still on top after 14 or 16 weeks. Zanjeer had come at a time when Rajesh Khanna and romantic films were ruling the roost. An anti establishment angry young man, by this film, penned by Salim- Javed, changed the way people saw and perceived films.

We had an advantage growing up in Lucknow in mid 70’s. The movies in Lucknow used to be released on Thursdays, one day before the rest of the country thus giving us a one day advantage over rest of India. The movies were in our psyche. Each big movies release was looked forward with a great deal of expectation. Watching movie the’ first day first show’ was like getting a medal for some kind of an excellence. It earned a lot of envy from the classmates and neighbours. There was a fair amount of excitement before each big release. As they said-the town buzzed with excitement at the prospect of the coming thursday.

Zanjeer was just the beginning of the Amitabh era. Once Amitabh grew in stature, and a Amitabh Bachchan film was released, there was mayhem at the box office window. Many a times the entire window was rooted out from the wall in mob frenzy. Though he had some lovely romantic films to his credit like ‘Abhimaan’ and ‘Kabhie-Kabhie’ it was when Amitabh combined with Manmohan Desai ,Prakash Mehra and Yash Chopra in larger than life characters that he caught the imagination of the masses. It was impossible to get tickets for Deewar, Laawaris, Namak Halal, Amar Akbar Anthony, Naseeb, Trishul etc. and the area around the theatres used to be like some kind of a war zone with hundreds of lathi equipped cops.With Don and 'kahiyeke paan bbanaras wala' , Amitabh was rated as the biggest entertainer of all times.

My earliest recollection of pre release hype was that of Ramesh Sippys ‘Andaaz.’ The film starred Shammi Kapoor and Hema Malini but strangely none of the posters featured Shammi Kapoor prominently. The posters were dominated by Rajesh Khanna who had become a super-star while Andaaz was being filmed. Films like Aradhana, Anand and Haathi Mere Saathi and Do Raaste had capitulated him onto dizzying heights with all ages. He played just 3 scenes in the film and had the song ‘zindagi ek safar hai suhaana………..’ on the motor-bike. The posters had him wearing goggles on the front edge of his nose and his head tilted. This drove the girls mad and created a pre-release hysteria. I remember the buzz of the time. People saw the movie over and over again and would walk out the moment Rajesh Khanna died. This must be the first instance of movie becoming a hit on the shoulder of a guest appearance. This craze for Rajesh Khanna was taken advantage by a now forgotten magazine called JS (junior Statesman) in those days. For the first time, it brought out a 6 part poster of the superstar. The first of the series had the shoes. By the time it was time for the issue with the face, the JS struggled to print the required copies. Speculation regarding how the face would come out (winking ? head tilted ?with a hat ? with goggles ?) reached the peak before the final issue came out. The demand was so much that the magazine was sold in the black market at an exorbitant price.

Around the time Zanjeer was celebrating its silver Jubilee, the much awaited Raj Kappors film ‘Bobby’ was released. While going to school in the morning, I was astonished to see a queue as long as from Mayfair theatre to Chaudhary sweet house (more than half a kilometer) on the day advance bookings opened. I had never seen this kind of crowds anywhere. I should know because there were 20 theatres within the walking distance to my house. Considering that Raj Kapoors last film ‘Mera Naam Joker’ was the biggest box office disasters of all time, this appeared to be miracle. But one should not forget that Dimple married the superstar Rajesh Khanna just before the movie was released. The magazines wrote about the stormy affair between Dimple and Chintu; about Dimple in bikini; about several hugging scenes in the movie; about Rajesh Khanna proposing to Dimple and throwing the ring given by Chintu baba to Dimple in the Arabian sea. All this was too heady for public to resist. The film lived up to the billing and was a stupendous success. The GTS motor bike on which Rishi and Dimple eloped became the bestselling vehicle of the country and improved the finances of Nandas, the owners of Rajdoot brand. The Nandas of Escorts were the family in which Raj Kapoors daughter Ritu had married. Prem Chopra who had till then acted in around a hundred films, and after this film must have acted in a couple of hundred more, rates his 5 minute cameo in Bobby and his dialogue of ‘Prem naam hai mera, Prem Chopra’ to be the most remembered role and dialogue of his life. The cottage in which the song ‘Hum tum ek Kamre me band ho aur chaabi khop jaaye……….’ was picturised, became a tourist spot of Pahalgam. Narender Chanchal zoomed into fame inspite of his funny singing style and went on to become the largest selling singer of devotional songs in the world. Dimple did not act in a film for more than a decade and even then no actress could remove her from this pedestal of the most desired woman for Indian men during this decade. Atleast I had her poster in my hostel room in 1982.
A similar kind of excitement was generated when Raj Kapoors ‘Satyam Shivam Sundaram’ was released a few years later but that had more to do with Zeenat’s clothes or lack of it. SSS could not live up to the hype built and it collapsed quickly.

Sholay was released in Mumbai almost 4 weeks before it was released in Lucknow. In Bombay, it had taken Sholay a couple of weeks to get the publics approval. Initially it was being called a flop. So by the time it was released in Lucknow, the film was already a hit. For the first time in Lucknow a film was released in 2 cinema halls and the new theatre ‘Leela’ was specially readied for the 70 mm extravaganza. Once the movie released , the management of ‘Leela’ did not have to bother removing the ‘House full’ board for a few months. Sholay is arguably the best hindi film ever made. Experts were astounded that a film which had so many tragic moments could have a repeat value like no other film ever made. During my holidays I had wanted to go to Delhi so that I could watch the scenes which were not there in the originally released version in Lucknow. The Asrani ‘jailer’ scene and some scenes of 'surma bhopali' and jaya were not in the original released in Lucknow. I did travel to Delhi and came back well enriched by watching the movie twice so I could describe the scenes to my school friends in detail. I didn’t know of a person in Lucknow at that time who saw the movie less than 5 times in theatre. Some saw it as many as 30-40 times. Was there a single line of dialogues that we did not know by heart ? Forget the main stars, Mac Mohan with one line in the entire movie is still remembered as Sambha. Not many know Viju Khoteys real name and till now he is known as Kaalia. My kids saw the movie 32 years after its release. They are hooked to it and keep repeating it every few days.I recently read a book by Anupma Chopra on the 'making of Sholay'. It was well worth a read. Amjad Khan may be dead but ‘Gabbar’ will remain as the most coveted villain of all times.
I remember that the next release in Leela was ‘Laila Majnu’ which was also a golden jubilee. So the theatre had just 2 releases in more than 2 years of its existence!
The big excitement came when the turn of Ramesh Sippys next, ‘Shaan’ came.

The magazines said that Shaan was bigger than Sholay. They said ‘Shakaal’ of Shaan would leave 'Gabbar' pale in comparison. They said it was the biggest budgeted movie of all time with the best Hollywood technicians working on the sets, special effects and cinematography.
It was difficult waiting for the film to release. I saw the film on the first day. There were more people outside the hall than inside. The police had a tough time controlling the people and there were frequent lathi charges. It was tough getting inside the hall even with the valid ticket. As the lights went off the screen came alive with a bond style sequence of dance ‘Doston se pyaar kiya……dushmano se badla lia….jo bhi kiya, hamne kiya SHAAN se………………’ , the crowd roared in approval. You may think I am exaggerating but people were hugging each other congratulating each other for another blockbuster which would run for 2 years. ‘Hit hai bhai’ my neighbour informed me with great pride. As the film rolled, the excitement ebbed. At the end of 210 minutes there were not many smiling faces. Shaan was the biggest letdown of the decade. My neighbour – who had spent a fortune in buying the ticket for the film and had been pretty excited earlier got up from the seat muttering’ saala chutiya bana diya !’
Another let down for the public was a movie called Red Rose. For some inexplicable reason this movie was being touted as the return of Rajesh Khanna. Based on a Tamil hit Sigappu Rojakkal, Red Rose evoked a lot of pre release excitement. Perhaps it had something to do with the reports about it being about a serial killer. A hero as a serial killer was somewhat an unknown phenomena in hindi cinema. There was a Lathi Charge on thursday outside the theatre. By Monday there was not a soul to be seen anywhere around Capitol theatre, where the movie was running!

Feroze Khan had this ability of creating excitement. He introduced Formula one motor racing in Apradh , his debut film as a director. His ladylove in the film was Mumtaz with whom he is said to have had a wild affair. Later Feroz’s son Fardeen married Mumtaz’s daughter Natasha. Feroze Khan was stylish. He made films with style and marketed them in style. ‘Dharmatama’ based on ‘The Godfather’ was shot partially in Afganistan. He ensured that the theatres were booked for 2 weeks the day advance bookings opened. The music was catchy, the women were hot and the film was fast paced. It was a huge hit. He followed it by ‘Qurbani.’ The songs by Nazia Hasan were on top of the charts much before the movie was released. The owner’s son of the theatre was from my school so he booked 300 seats on the first day of the film. These were the first few rows. Maybe we all felt that Zeenats vital statistics would be more visible from up close. The 300 students hooted, shouted, danced and screamed. This was infectious. The whole cinema-hall did the same. I had to see the movie again to actually see the film.

I have not bought a ticket in black in many years now. There is no need anymore. A film is released in a hundred of theatres. I saw Ghajini , touted to be the biggest money-spinner of all time in a multiplex just 3 days after release. I bought the tickets just two hours before the show and it certainly wasn’t house full. A month later it wasn’t running in any theatre anywhere. Big blockbusters come and go. No one remembers them after a few months and no one talks about them. We still talk about Amar Prem, Zanjeer, Deewar and Sholay. I would certainly rate 70's as the golden era of indian cinema. We saw not one, but two superstars in this decade.