Filmmaker Kedar Shinde’s Marathi movie Baipan Bhari Deva has literally taken the box office by storm in Maharashtra. Produced by Jio Studios, the film has an ensemble cast of Rohini Hattangadi, Vandana Gupte, Sukanya Kulkarni Mone, Suchitra Bandekar, Deepa Parab and Shilpa Navalkar. It tells the story of the bond between the six sisters and how it gets strengthened after they take part in a traditional dance contest. The movie has gone onto earn over Rs. 30 crores in less than two weeks, which is phenomenal for a film released mostly in just one state.
Highlighting the film’s success, veteran trade analyst Taran Adarsh told Bollywood Hungama, “The success of Baipan Bhari Deva only indicates that the content is the king and there is no effective publicity than word-of-mouth publicity. When the film released, it started on a low note. But the numbers have shown a remarkable jump. This only goes to prove that somewhere down the line the word-of-mouth power is the ultimate power.”
The success of Baipan Bhari Deva has brought to light an interesting situation. Over the last few years, Marathi filmmakers, producers and artistes at large have been complaining about their films not getting a good number of shows by the multiplexes and even if they somehow get a decent number of shows, they get odd timings.
In the case of Baipan Bhari Deva, the theatres have happily increased the film’s shows even in the second week because of the crazy demand. So, is the whole theory about Marathi movies not getting enough shows a myth? Or are cases like Baipan Bhari Deva and Ved only a few isolated examples? We asked the same to various industry expects.
Ganesh Matkari, a film critic, writer and screenwriter and someone who has been following Marathi cinema closely, clearly doesn’t believe that it’s a myth. He told us, “Marathi films not getting shows is not a myth and it can’t be concluded as such on the basis of rare examples like Baipan Bhari Deva or Sairat. I think Marathi cinema has been continually facing problem with multiplexes for a few years now and producers find it difficult to get desired number of shows. Whatever shows they get can drastically reduce if there is less demand in the first three days. Unlike Bollywood, Marathi films have few stars, and the USP is the subject and performances, which may not be enough for the initial draw. But by the time word of mouth spreads, the shows are already reduced and it’s of no use.”
He also believes that a backing of a big studio can’t be ignored in such cases. “Initial draw can be generated with publicity and a large number of screens on the release day only when there is a solid backing of a major studio. In case of Baipan Bhari Deva, it’s backed by Jio Studios. And even when it’s doing well on its merit, this initial support can’t be ignored. Not many Marathi films are this fortunate,” he said.
Veteran trade analyst Atul Mohan echoed a similar sentiment. “Baipan Bhari Deva received more shows only after it started doing well and getting a good response. It had lesser shows earlier. On the first day they realized by the evening that it’s doing well and then increased the shows by night. The same was the case with Ved and Vaalvi. I agree that there is initial struggle. There have been a lot of complaints (by Marathi film fraternity for not getting enough shows). If this wasn’t the case, we wouldn’t have been hearing so many complaints every week,” he told us.
He also pointed out that the priority level of multiplexes plays a very big role in determining the number of shows for a film. “Today, there are hardly any single screens. And the first preference for multiplexes is star-driven Hindi films, followed by Hollywood movies. These two industries help run the business of multiplexes. They also give priority to the films of the state they are based in. For example, if there is a good Punjabi movie in Punjab, they will give priority to it. The same goes for south where regional movies get priority as they do better than Hindi films over there. But in non-south regions, especially in Mumbai, regional is not the first priority. There are also south dubbed movies and Hollywood. And in Mumbai, they have to consider Marathi as well as Gujarati. Mumbai is a metropolitan city,” he said.
Exhibitor Abrar Memon, who runs single screen theatres Victory, Vasant, Neelayam and Rahul in Pune, is of the view that it’s not true that Marathi films don’t get proper shows. He said, “When a good Marathi film with impressive content releases, it automatically gets a good number of shows. I think this is a misconception. If you see last year also, the films on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj got a lot of shows in all slots. When the content isn’t up-to-the-mark, even Hindi films don’t get shows. The same goes for Hollywood. But people don’t point this out. No politician has come in support of Baipan Bhari Deva but still the film is a blockbuster. It has surpassed Ved. The second week collections are better than the first week. It’s going houseful even on weekdays all over Pune.”
Taran Adarsh also believes that the theatres face a crisis situation when there are too many industries to cater to and not enough screens. “There are multiple films in Hindi, Hollywood and south. So, what happens is that there is a shortage of screens and show timings. That’s the reason why everything takes a toll and that really affects. If the film works, then, of course, sky is the limit,” he said.
Ganesh Matkari added that it’s not right to blame the theatres alone. “Multiplexes can’t take all the blame because Marathi audience has been proven unresponsive even for critically acclaimed films. And the situation will not change if they keep away from theatre releases. When we see major footfall, we can expect the change,” he said.
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