Kamal Ghorui
Filmmaker Shekhar Kapur known for classics such as ‘Masoom’, ‘Mr India’, and ‘Bandit Queen, recently revisited one of the most uncertain moments of his career. He revealed how his film ‘Masoom’ starring Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi was a flop initially and suddenly things changed. It unexpectedly turned into a hit after many days. Alongside a throwback photograph featuring the film’s cast – Shabana, Naseeruddin, Urmila Matondkar and Jugal Hansraj, Kapur shared a candid account of the film’s disastrous opening day. Walking into a major theatre on release day, he was met with an almost deserted hall. “On the first day of release, I went to the main theatre… and there were only two people in the whole cinema hall… and one of them was me!” he wrote.He went on to describe the era’s rampant ticket black-marketing, when groups would buy seats in bulk to resell them later. That day, however, the scheme backfired. Kapur recalled being confronted by frustrated men outside the theatre. “Outside I got surrounded by some pretty angry looking young boys when they discovered I was the director .. they had lost their money that day.”Looking visibly dejected, Kapur remembered one of them offering unexpected advice. “I must have looked pretty crestfallen. So one of them actually took pity on me, and said .. ‘Sir .. the problem is you’ve made an ‘article’ film’ .. if you want a career , don’t do that ‘” The director admitted the comment initially baffled him. “Article film ?? I kept wondering .. article film .. I realized he meant an ‘artistic film’ .. Don’t ever make an artistic film this young black marketeer was trying to warn me ..”From Friday through Tuesday, theatres remained largely empty, prompting distributors to begin withdrawing the film from cinemas. Kapur shared how that decision crushed him. “I remember the feeling that day .. when they told me they had decided to give up trying to hold the theatres .. I walked the streets of Mumbai and thought about what I was going to do next in my life , for making films was certainly no longer an option,” he wrote.Then, just as suddenly, the tide turned. “Something strange happened on Thursday. A friend called me and asked if I could help him get tickets to Masoom. I told him that was a bad joke. On Thursday one cinema hall had filled up .. then on Friday there were lines of people waiting to buy tickets .. and over the weekend the distributors were scrambling to get back the halls they had given up, and my ‘Article’ film was declared a hit ..”Even today, Kapur finds the turnaround puzzling. While many credit “word of mouth”, he pointed out that barely anyone had seen the film initially. “What happened that Thursday ? .. I still wonder as I am about to go into making ‘Masoom, the next generation’ .. years after Masoom the original became a cult film,” he concluded.‘Masoom’ is also loved and remembered years later for the film’s concept and the soulful songs, especially, ‘Tujhse Naaraaz Nahi Zindagi’.
