Ace filmmaker Shekhar Kapur shared a major Throwback Thursday post on his Instagram. The post is about his directorial debut Masoom and its journey from "empty" halls to "Housefull" ones. In tinsel town, Friday seems to hold reins of fortune. But for the director, it was one Thursday, which made his maiden venture witness audience rushing for tickets. Mr. Kapur still has no idea how that miracle happened. He wonders what actually transpired between an empty Wednesday and a busy Thursday till date. Whether courtesy of "sudden word of mouth" or allignment of stars, Shekhar Kapur's passion turned into reality and Masoom overcame the initial hurdles after its release.
Shekhar Kapur shared a heartwarming black and white frame with this post. The frame features Jugal Hansraj, Urmila Matondkar and Aradhana Srivastav as child artists along with the director. Needless to say, these three children made the film stand the test of time with their brilliant performances. Mr Kapur began the post with the first day first show scenario of Masoom. Fans might be surprised to know that the show had only three people in attendance: Shekhar Kapur and a young couple.
Take a look at the post here:
"Tell you a little story about how Masoom the movie almost died? We finished the movie before we showed it to anyone. Before we sold a single part of it. That was the pleasure of making films those days ..Distributors loved the movie when they saw it. But on release the halls were completely empty .. I remember going to the first day first show , and the Cinema hall was completely empty .. except for me and a young couple in a dark corner, that showed no interest in the film at all," Mr Kapur wrote in the post.
Did the picture change the following weekend? "That was the Friday of the release, and the same story Saturday .. on Sunday, Monday and again on Tuesday .. no one went to see film. The distributors called to say they are taking the film off the theatres on Saturday ... iso 'We know you've made a great movie .. but sorry.. the theatre owners are going take the movie off .. there are no audiences..." Shekhar Kapur added further.
Did the empty halls crush the spirit of a debutant director? To quote Mr Kapur's words, "'Oh well' I thought 'There go my dreams of being a filmmaker' I remember eating a lot chaat that day at Hill Road. That was my passion other than film making ..."
And then a phone call changed the entire story. "The next day, my uncle Vijay Anand, the famous film Director called me and said 'Hey Shekhar , can you arrange some tickets for us .. the house is full ..What ? This was Thursday. I rushed to the theatre and saw lines outside waiting for tickets .. what happened ? I asked .. what changed in a day ? The distributors by then had to beg borrow and steal to retain some of the theatres .. and of course thereafter the film never stopped and went on to create history..." Mr Kapur continued in his post.
"I'll still never know .. what happened between the Wednesday and the Thursday ? Did the stars align differently .. a very sudden word of mouth ? Phew .. imagine if that Thursday had never happened there may have been no Masoom and I may have had go back to be a Chartered Accountant," Mr Kapur concluded.
Masoom features Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi in the lead roles along with Tanuja, Supriya Pathak and Saeed Jaffrey. The film portrays the complexities of conjugal life and deals with the theme of man-woman relationship in the most sensitive manner.
