Last year Bollywood films like Lipstick Under My Burkha and Newton were also a success at the box-office!
The time is changing and so is the preferences of the audience. Last year saw a great change in the type of Bollywood films which worked at the box-office. Films like Baahubali: The Conclusion, Lipstick Under My Burkha and Newton were able to succeed, in spite of not having a biggie of B-town. On the other hand, films like Tubelight and Jab Harry Met Sejal could not create much magic at the box-office, even after being a Khan starrer.
Vijay Singh, Chief Executive Officer of Fox Star Studios tells Livemint, “A big star cast may guarantee an opening on the day of the release, that too, if the promotional material has been liked. Post the first show, word-of-mouth takes over which, in many cases, can affect the evening shows on the first day of release itself.”
He also added on saying, “Audiences have become very selective and with newer avenues such as the over-the-top (OTT) streaming platforms opening up, there is no dearth of entertainment and unless there is a compelling reason to hit the theatres, audiences will refrain from doing so.”
According to Apoorva Mehta, CEO of Dharma Productions, films can be categorized into types – Franchise films (Badrinath Ki Dulhania, Fukrey 2, Golmaal Returns, Baahubali 2, Judwaa 2, Jolly LLB 2) and Content-driven films (Newton, Bareilly Ki Barfi, Hindi Medium, Lipstick Under My Burkha), that have a substantial story to tell.
Jyoti Deshpande, group chief executive of Eros International says, “What traditionally happens on good box office days is that the dominant share of the business comes from relatively urban, affluent territories like Mumbai and Delhi.”
She adds on saying, “Extremely high concentration of cinemas in very few places, lack of theatre roll-out and compressed windows (for a film to perform) mean that people are picking and choosing what they are watching in the cinemas. Secondly, because of social media, the verdict on a film is almost instantaneous and unlike earlier, there is no breather of even a weekend. That means only meritorious films survive and a film is unlikely to sustain at the box office just on the basis of marketing and hype.”
