Some similarities between the two releases of this week –
* One, both star actresses who started their career as models.
* Two, the films have been directed by names who started their career as editors. While Naresh Malhotra has to his credit YUDH, TRIDEV and VISHWATMA as an editor, before he took a plunge in direction with YEH DILLAGI, Amit Saxena has edited a number of films made by the Bhatts, including RAAZ.
* Three, both could be termed as 'heroine-based' scripts.
Besides, the pre-release promotion of both DIL KA RISHTA and JISM has been fantastic.
Coincidentally, the makers and the stars of the two films toured several cities of India prior to the release of the film, as part of their marketing strategy. Rajesh Thadani, the Mumbai distributor of the film, is supremely confident of the film. Says he, "The film grows on you. It's content is the USP, besides the star cast and music."
On the other hand, Pooja Bhatt is more than happy with the pre-release curiosity JISM has generated. When we met her on Monday evening during a private screening of her film, Pooja looked relaxed and content, unlike most producers who face a tough time at the time of delivering the prints to the distributors.
Besides touring several cities, Pooja also organized preview shows of the film in various cities and according to her, "The response was tremendous. There was pin-drop silence during the erotic sequences, there were no cat calls absolutely," she says.
Meanwhile, the producers of DUM are all geared up for the film's release next week [January 24]. Until a few days ago, a section of the trade was of the opinion that the craze generated by the promos of the title track had subsided, but the executive producer of the film, Bipin Sawla, denies that the pre-release anticipation for the film has declined.
Sawla reveals that the idea of playing the title track for a prolonged period of time was pre-planned. "We decided to play the title song for four weeks because we did not want DUM to be confused with another Vivek starrer SAATHIYA. It would've been unwise to play a romantic track from DUM at that time, since people would've got confused," he says.
The makers have now introduced a new song for promotion, picturised on Yana Gupta. "We are expecting it to be a craze by the time the film releases," he says. So was that the reason why the film was postponed by a week? "The actual reason for its postponement was to accommodate Tips, since the clash of three films would've led to a divided audience," he reveals.
HIMESH ON CLOUD NINE
The Yana Gupta track from DUM may catch on the fascination of the viewers, but one song that is currently topping the popularity charts is 'Mirchi' from CHURA LIYAA HAI TUMNE. Music director Himesh Reshammiya, who made the teenage crowds go wild with 'Nikkamma' prior to this, is on cloud nine these days, thanks to the response to the song.
He feels that the success of the song can be attributed to two more factors, apart from its tune – singer Shaan's rendition of the song and Ravi Padha's expertise in cutting the promos. 'Nikkamma', 'Bardasht', 'Sanam Mere Humraaz' and now 'Mirchi' – has he hiked his price? "No way! I'm aware that the industry is going through a crisis and am not interested in taxing my producers further," he adds quickly.
