Aamir Khan (middle) in Lagaan

It’s Sunny vs Aamir, again. M.S.M. Desai reports on the June 15 clash

In Bollywood these days, June 15 is an important date. Two heavyweight films—Aamir Khan’s Lagaan and Zee TV’s Gadar: Ek Prem Katha, starring Sunny Deol—are scheduled to hit the marquee on that day, and distributors who have paid through their noses, either as minimum guarantee or advances, are awaiting with bated breath for D-day.

What’s further keeping Bollywood on the edge of its seat is the fact that both films are carrying encouraging pre-release reports. Television promos have whipped up a great deal of nationalism among people, since both Lagaan and Gadar are period films; one, set in 19th century Awadh, and the other, a Partition saga. But while the Lagaan soundtrack, created by A.R. Rahman, has scaled the top of the popularity charts, the Gadar album doesn’t seem to have been promoted to its full potential yet.

The imminent ‘clash’ has another rather filmi spin to it. Years ago, Aamir’s Dil and Sunny’s Ghayal were released on the same day, and both turned out to be super hits. History repeated itself when Aamir’s Raja Hindustani and Sunny’s Ghatak arrived on cinema screens together. Once again, the two films were moneyspinners. No wonder then, the film trade is keeping its fingers crossed that June 15, 2001 will strike lucky the third time around.

Sunny Deol with Amisha Patel in Gadar: Ek Prem Katha

Santosh Singh Jain, President of the Central Circuit Cine Association, which keeps track of the business every film fetches, agrees that both films are hot property in the market. ‘‘If Lagaan is one up in Mumbai, CP-CI and Bengal territories, then Gadar has the edge up North, in Delhi, Punjab and Rajasthan."

Distributor Shyam Shroff of Shringar Films, who has bought the Mumbai territory rights for Lagaan believes ‘‘people are eager to see Lagaan because it’s an Aamir Khan home production, and they have come to expect sincere and sensitive films from him". Shringar Films will release 80 prints of Lagaan in the entire Mumbai circuit, which includes Maharashtra (minus Vidharbha and Marathwada), Gujarat and four districts of Karnataka. While Shroff insists on keeping silent about the price at which Lagaan was sold, Zee’s Nitin Keni claims his financial dealings are transparent. ‘‘I have sold the film at the ratio of Rs 2.75 to Rs 3 crore. All my accounts are in white. In fact, I can say this is the first film to have entirely transparent accounts," explains Keni.

So which film will emerge the winner? The trade buzz has it that Lagaan has an advantage over Gadar, at least in the overseas market. Sony Entertainment Television is distributing the film globally, and will release 40 prints in the US and five in Canada. They will also release the film in the UK, Japan, China, Malaysia, Hong Kong, South Africa and the Middle East, and some prints will run sub-titles in English, French, German, Arabic and Mandarin, in an attempt to widen the international audience net.

Zee, which has produced Gadar, is holding on to the overseas rights, and the 60-odd prints that will be released internationally, are to be distributed through the channel’s marketing outfits on a commission basis.

However, Lagaan’s running time, of three hours and 31 minutes, is rather daunting. Though the promos seem engrossing enough, Gadar, which originally ran into more than three hours, is playing wiser. The film that hits theatres this Friday will be an audience-friendly two hours and 50 minutes.