5 years ago (Jan. 11 – 17, 2004)

Ek Hasina Thi, the thriller in which Saif Ali Khan played a negative role, opened to average houses on 16th January.

The film marked the debut of director Sriram Raghavan and was produced by Ramgopal Varma and K Sera Sera.

Manisha Koirala’s Paisa Vasool collected Rs. 150 in the first show in a multiplex of Indore. And at Inderlok cinema of Gora­khpur, it managed a mere Rs. 428.20! Rarely had a starcast film collected in hundreds in a show.

Ramgopal Varma, who still guards his personal life from the media glare, visited Hyd­erabad on 11th January with the first copy of his Ek Hasina Thi for his mother to see the film. Varma’s daughter from his estranged wife also lives in Hyderabad.

J.P. Dutta, whose LOC Kargil had been released three weeks earlier, revealed that two demand drafts, totally valued at Rs. 7 lakh, given to him by his C.P. Berar distributor, had been returned unpaid by the bank. Yes, like some cheq­ues, these demand drafts had bounced!! The filmmaker complained to the police and got an arrest warrant issued in the name of the distributor.

But the arrest plan was abandoned by Dutta because the distributor threatened to call the camera crews of various news channels to record his arrest. He conveyed to J.P. Dutta that he’d tell the various television channels that while he stood to lose Rs. 50 to 60 lakh in LOC Kargil, Dutta was bothered about his Rs. 7 lakh.

Issue dated Jan 11 – 17, 2009

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