Flashback
By PRABEER SIKDAR
DEHRADUN, 19 May 2009: Prakash Mehra, a small town man from Bijnor who gave Amitabh Bachchan the persona of ‘Angry Young Man’, is dead but the ‘fire’ in his films, still linger on in memories.
Take for instance, Manohar Yadav, 45, a private worker (near Raj Plaza) and self-proclaimed fan of Amitabh Bachchan, who despite his advancing age still nurtures the angry young man image of Vijay, the character played by Big B in many films. “I watched Muqaddar Ka Sikandar (1978) thrice,” Yadav told Garhwal Post.
The film, which ran for 16 weeks at Kanak Cinema, drew a houseful crowd for three weeks. “During that time, we paid Rs 2 lakhs advance, considered very high that time, to get the film,” recalled LS Dhawan, Manager of Kanak Cinema, adding that the Balcony seat then cost only Rs 5.
“The front circle cost Rs 1.90 paise and Rs 3 was the price for Upper Stall,” he said, adding that all Mehra-Big B films pulled in heavy crowds. It is another story that Kanak Cinema, now, makes money mostly by showing Bhojpuri movies.
At Payal Cinema, which screened the Mehra directed ‘Sharaabi’ (1984) for 16 weeks, the film reportedly drew a houseful crowd for 7 weeks. “Mehra’s film ‘Namak Halaal’ (1982), ran a repeat screening after being shown at Prabhat Cinema, for 12 weeks,” recalled Taranjeet Singh Kohli, a man looking after Payal Theatre’s parking lot for more than 25 years.
According to Chhotu Rehman, who runs Chhaya Scooter Centre opposite Payal Theatre, ticket seekers for ‘Sharaabi’ formed serpentine queues running up to the main road. “Then, the show timings used to be 12-3, 3-6, 6-9 and 9-12 p.m.,” he disclosed, pointing out that excess crowd used to disturb their work.
In contrast, Payal, where a dubbed version of Hollywood film ‘Island Mummy’ is currently being shown, had only 20 people inside the 945 seat theatre at the 4 p.m. show.
But one man who witnessed the soaring popularity of Big B in Doon among film buffs (then there were no Cable TV, CDs, DVDs, etc.) clearly, is Bala Kishen, 56, a lineman- turned-machine operator-turned booking counter staff at Prabhat Theatre.
“Prakash Mehra’s three hit films – Zanjeer (1973), Laawaris (1981) and Namak Halal (1982) – were screened at Prabhat Theatre,” informed Kishen, who has been working at the same theatre for more than 35 years.
“Zanjeer ran for 15 weeks and always used to block traffic for hours during the show,” recollected Kishen, adding that tickets then were priced at Rs 3.60 for the balcony. “The die hard fans in the front seats only paid 60 paise.”
According to Kishen, Mehra’s ‘Laawaris’ (1981) ran for 14 weeks, while Namak Halal (1982) had a successful run of 13 weeks. (Unfortunately, due to non-release of new films, Prabhat Theatre is now screening a repeat of the Aamir Khan starrer ‘Ghajini’ with only a handful crowd.
Interestingly, following Zanjeer’s successful run of 100 days here, Mehra gifted a memento to the owner of Prabhat theatre. The memento, which depicts the figure of a jumping horse, is still carefully preserved.
But why horse? “The horse symbol had a pivotal place in the plot of Zanjeer,” explained Kishen. “Vijay (Big B) comes to know about the identity of the villain Teja (Ajit), only by looking at the bracelet that had a horse tied to it…,” Kishen pointed out.
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