Joy Mukherjee's 'Love in Bombay' has been theatrically released 42 years after it was produced. The film, which features Waheeda Rehman, Rehman, Kishore Kumar, and Ashok Kumar, wasn't released. The film was discovered by Mukherjee's son after his demise in March 9, 2013. His son Munjoy Mukherjee shared the memories of the shelved film and its digital restoration in an interaction with IBNLive readers.
Q. Why do want to release it this year, and do you think people will be ready to watch it because this is a whole new generation? Asked by: kirti
A. This release had to be done at some stage of our lives, its better now than never. also with the release of Love in Bombay, my Dad's last wish of his dream series that is the love in series is now complete. i feel old movies are the base and foundation of our Indian Cinema, i think the young generation should watch the it, as the movie has a lot to offer in terms of yester years star value. legendary stars such as Ashok Kumar ji, Kishore Kumar ji, Waheeda Rehman, Rehman Sahab, Sonia SAhni AND MY Dad. its a whole some entertainment film.
Q. Why was the film not released when Shri Joy was alive? Asked by: sriram
A. My father wanted to release this movie much before, a producer has to go through all sort of problems from pre -production to production and then the big one, the release factor. he was un able to release it in 73-74 cause of various problems, he again tried it in the 80's and then yet again in the 90's, all three attempts were in vain. the last few years of dad, he did once again spoke to me on the release of it, but wanted to do it on his own. we had even discussed it in 2011 nov. he wanted to release it in 2012. but as fate would have it my father passed away on the 9th of march 2012.. i took up the challenge and found the negetive and restored it with Avitel Post studioz for a year, released the music with HMV SAREGAMA and released the movie with PVR on the 2 nd of AUG 2013, 2 days before Kishore Kumar ji ( my late grand uncle's birthday ) on the 4th of Aug.
Q. CBFC renewed the old certificate or was it a fresh certification? Asked by: sundar1950in
A. No they did not renew or issue a fresh certificate, as per their norms once a certificate is issued, its issued, so I released it with the old censor certificate.
Q. Globally IS there any other film which had been released so many years later after production/certification? Asked by: sundar1950in
A. Hmmmm I doubt, I do not know.. I think Love in Bombay ( l.i.b ) is the oldest unreleased movie in the history of indian cinema so far. releasing after 40 years is quite a record I guess. But I am sure there are other movies too that need to be seen, I guess the release of l.i.b has created quite a wave among the industry and I encourage the families of the producers of such unreleased works to come forward and show case the unreleased works of true great artists who once entertained our parents, our uncles and aunts and we as young generation can only learn and enjoy such great works. remember, its our heritage, our legacy of all the Cinema lovers.
Q. Understand that the release is more as a respect and homage to your father than as a commercial venture. In case of a good revenue will you share some portion to the cause of actors of your father's generation? Asked by: sundar1950in
A. Why not! if I make any money from the release of the 'Love in Bombay', I shall share some portions with the needy, not with the greedy. I love charity. its a way of life. Its in my blood, my legendary grandfather did, my father did, so all the more for me to do it.)-
Q. Has the film been released as a colour one or B&W? Asked by: sundar1950in
A. It was always in color. after a years restoration, you all will see bright colors and hear crisp sound. thanks to Avitel studios in juhu to help me with the visual restoration and thanks to my musician friend Mansur Alam who helped me enhanced and brightened the sound quality of L.I.B.
Q. Was the Digital restoration a difficult task? Asked by: sundar1950in
A. You bet it was! 10 to 15 technicians at avitel studio worked for nearly 10 hours a day to clean each and every blotch, removing pin holes from every frame. imagine there a 24 frames in one second, so how many frames would have to be restored in a 2 hour 23 min movie ? it was hard work. After the visual restoration, i had to repair the sound. the dialogues were low and were distorting, lots of hissing sound.. The songs were sounding not up to the mark. it took me and Mansur Alam, my musician friend 3 months to clean each and every dialogue and enhanced the sound track. to make matters more difficult, we had to work on mixed tracks, there were no un mixed tracks of the songs or dialogues. it couldn't have been, we salvaged what ever we could from the negative and positive of the film.
Q. What is the cost of the film 40 yrs back? What is the Box office Collection of Love in Bombay so far? Asked by: venkat
A. I do not know the exact cost, but am sure my father must have spent a fortune on it. after looking at it, I feel it must have costed dad 35-40 lac in those days.. which is 350 to 400 crore today. If you buy a property in a prime area in Bombay for 35 lac in those days, it would be worth 350 crore today or even more. so in these terms 'Love in Bombay' is the most expensive movie to release this year.
Q. Why you din try your luck as an actor? Why you choose to be a producer for tv/films? Asked by: venkat
A. Every person has a destiny that takes him or her some where in his or her's life.. acting is an art which can be tried at any age. I love acting, its fun ! but I went on to be a producer as my instincts and talent as a creative producer, which I have inherited from my late grand father Padma shree Sashadhar Mukerji is very strong, and I felt I could build my own production house and produce movies and television shows. you never know I might just act in some of my own productions.
Q. What is the Box office Collection of Love in Bombay so far? Asked by: venkat
A. I don't know.. I haven't got the figures yet. I guess bringing the movie forward to the cinema lovers is my greatest award and reward. the release of my father's dream 'Love in Bombay' is by far my biggest achievement in my life so far.
Q. What could have been the reason of your father not having, informed any one of this storage? Asked by: sundar1950in
A. Dad knew my habit of being curious towards antiques and old things.. this is a hobby that I developed as a kid.. I like the company of old people and I like to collect old things or show case them. I used to pester him to tell me where he has kept it. He used to call me Indiana Jones, how ever he wanted to do it on his own.. may be he didn't wanted me to go through this process of releasing it.. a father is always a father..
Q. We hear that projects are in cold storage. Read somewhere that the print/ negative, of love in Bombay was really in a cold storage. Is it true? Asked by: sundar1950in
A. Yeah.. its true.
Q. Songs in the film were also unreleased? When film will be available on CD/DVD? Asked by: Zareef Ahmed
A. I think SAREGAMA is promoting the film songs digitally, you can down load songs by smsing "LIB to 56161" for caller tunes and down loads. You can also see the songs on you tube. Type 'Love in Bombay' songs and search. the songs are the best part in the movie. legendary composers Shankar Jai Kishen and lyric writer Majrooh Sultanpuri Sahab have given one of their best works here. singers- Kishore Kumar ji, Mohd Rafi ji and Asha Bhonsle ji have rendered their melodious voice to these great lyrics and compositions.
Q. Was Waheeda ji terrified with the idea of releasing the movie? Asked by: venkat
A. Yeah she was.. I guess she said to in the press.. she was wondering as per how the audience would lap it.. but she is looking so gorgeous and beautiful in the movie. I guess you all need to see it.
Comments
0 comment