Yet another week passes by and sadly, there's no noteworthy development worth drumming. The sole release, 26TH JULY AT BARISTA, came without a bang and left without a whimper. The business continues to be low-key, with the sole exception of JODHAA AKBAR. At the end of its fifth weekend [14-16 March], the nett business [domestic] is Rs. 57.63 crores, as per the official communiqué received by this writer. The figures are a tight slap on the faces of those who were hell-bent on calling JODHAA AKBAR a flop. Add to it the Overseas business + sale of Satellite and Home Video rights and UTV is already laughing all the way to the bank.
The quality of promos has improved incredibly. Of late, I am very impressed with the slick look of U ME AUR HUM and the just-launched promo of BHOOTHNATH. I've always maintained that the audience makes its mind to watch a film or skip it, depending on how the promos excite them. RACE is sure to fetch a deafening start and I expect the same for U ME AUR HUM and BHOOTHNATH.
The 'Releases' chart is getting more and more exciting as weeks pass by. With Yash Raj opening their cards for 2008 and Studio 18, UTV and Eros announcing their impressive line-up sometime back, the business is sure to show an upward trend in the weeks to follow. Newer stories are being attempted and most importantly, the distribution and exhibition outlets are only getting more and more transparent. This, in turn, will help newer investors enter the market and help Bollywood grow by leaps and bound.
At a point of time, most stars hid behind dark glasses or hats. But times have changed. Today, every star is game for promoting his/her film because they've realized that [i] If SRK can do it [going that extra mile to promote OSO], who are we to throw an attitude? and [ii] It only helps their movie get mileage, which only benefits the stars [if the movie works] eventually. But, of course, the media should know where to draw a line if the stars get accessible.
