Box-office can be most unpredictable and that’s the beauty of this business.
A few years ago, 20th Century Fox decided to release TITANIC in its English version solely. The practice of dubbing the film in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu languages was ruled out for the time being. You’d be surprised to know that not only did the English version give a run for the money to all Hindi biggies released during that week and also in the subsequent weeks, it also went on to become the biggest grosser of the year, overtaking the business of all Hindi films released during that calendar year.
TITANIC did swashbuckling business not just in metros [there weren’t multiplexes then], but even in the predominantly Hindi belt. Imagine an English film not only running to packed houses at several centres, but also completing a meritorious 25-week-run then.
The Friday gone by [November 18] witnessed the clash of the Khan brothers. The aggressively-publicized Feroz-Fardeen Khan starrer EK KHILADI EK HASEENA and Akbar Khan’s lavish historical TAJ MAHAL opened on the same date worldwide, but it was a third film altogether -- HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE -- which opened to a far better response than the two Hindi films, eclipsing the business of the two Hindi films in many circuits. In fact, the collections of the dubbed Hindi version were also far better than those of all Hindi releases, new and old, at several stations.
Surprised, aren’t you? So was the film industry when they realized that HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE [rated as the best movie in the franchise thus far] had embarked on a 90% + start at many screens, while EK KHILADI EK HASEENA was off to a 25%-30% start and TAJ MAHAL was around 10%-15%.
Prior to its release, P.N.C., the producers of EK KHILADI EK HASEENA, left no stone unturned to give it their best shot. With the real-life father and son duo in the cast and backed by extensive and eye-catching promotion, everyone was more than confident that the film would fetch an 80% + start everywhere. But it didn’t!
The collections of EK KHILADI EK HASEENA only slided further after Day 1 because: [i] The viewers found the concept too western and [ii] A sizable number of Feroz Khan fans were disappointed since the actor was barely there in the film.
The other release, TAJ MAHAL, opened to a lukewarm start, but the positive reports from moviegoers gave hope to its makers as also its distributors. The collections picked up on Saturday and Sunday at several screens, but it wasn’t a major jump as such. The producers were confident that the collections would remain steady on Monday and Tuesday, but nothing of the sort happened.
As things stand today, the business in the domestic market has been below par, although the producers may hope to recover part investment from the Overseas territory by dubbing it in various foreign languages.
THIS WEEK, LAST YEAR
[Weekend: November 19-21, 2004]
With the industry witnessing no major release, the beneficiaries of an open week were VEER-ZAARA, AITRAAZ and MUGHAL-E-AZAM. Despite mixed reports, VEER-ZAARA continued to hold sway in the second week. The matinee shows were affected at some places, but the business, at most places, was in the range of 85% +, which is exceptional considering the number of prints in circulation and the exorbitant ticket rates.
MUGHAL-E-AZAM had emerged a success story as well, with the evergreen epic going from strength to strength. The number of prints in the second week had been increased, which also indicated the confidence its distributors had in this classic.
AITRAAZ continued its moderate march with 70% collections at multiplexes and according to at least two multiplexes, the weekend in the third week was expected to be strong as well. Moviegoers in metros, especially the youth, were patronizing the film.
