Komal Nahta

The shooting schedule of Suneel Darshan's Ek Rishtaa -- The Bond of Love has been thrown out of gear.

Karisma Kapoor is suffering from chicken pox and is, therefore, not able to participate in the shooting. This comes as rather a setback because earlier, Juhi Chawla, the other heroine of the film, had to drop out because she got pregnant.

Meanwhile, Amitabh Bachchan and the other cast members cooperated with Suneel, reshuffling their dates so that the major chunk of shooting could be completed before Juhi stopped working for a few months.

With Karisma's illness, though, the schedule has gone haywire again, but knowing the cooperative cast, they just might bail out Suneel once again.

With the release of Bharat Shah's Chori Chori Chupke Chupke in jeopardy following the seizure of its negative and the arrest of its producer, Nasim Hassan Rizvi, for his alleged underworld links, the loss to the industry is estimated at Rs 20 crore.

The film was sold, on an average, at Rs 2 to 2.25 crore per major territory. Thanks to the uncertainty looming over the revised release schedule, one is not sure whether the film will or will not make it to cinema halls on January 5, 2001, as announced.

It all depends on the court verdict.

If the court orders for the release of the seized negative, the film will be released on January 5. But without that, there's no way the film will be able to see the light of the projector.

Sony Entertainment Television's production arm will soon be moving into high gear. Negotiations are in the final stage between Sony and a foreign venture capital fund for financing the former to the tune of about Rs 75 crore.

Sony plans to produce at least seven to eight films every year, of which four or five will be big-budget fares.

To begin with, it has taken over a project of Mahesh Manjrekar's Pyar Kiya Nahin Jata which is fast nearing completion.

The token closure of cinemas across Maharashtra on December 20 was called off following an assurance from the State Government of Maharashtra to the film industry to take serious action against those indulging in cable piracy.

The film industry in Maharashtra was to observe a cinema bandh on December 20 to protest against the government's inaction in curbing cable piracy. Thanks to the assurance, the bandhcall was called off on December 19.

It is now to be seen whether the government lives up to its promise. If it does, there'll be no new film telecasts on Cable Television.

Meanwhile, the Dainik Jagran group of newspapers, extremely popular in North India, is now set to get into the business of multiplexes.

Rave, a three-screen cineplex with other entertainment facilities, a huge shopping mall, parking space for 250 cars and the works, will be opened to the public in Kanpur in May 2001.

Shailesh Gupta (of the Gupta family of Kanpur), is the man behind the multiplex. Kanpur is only the beginning. The next target is Lucknow.