BUSINESS OF FILMS

Chain reaction: Uncertainty over Padmavati throws Bollywood out of gear

India Film Under Attack Boys look at a poster of Bollywood film Padmavati in Mumbai | AP

The delay in the release of Padmavati is giving sleepless nights to not just the makers but also to the exhibitors of this controversial magnum opus. While initially, the beginning of December was anchored by Deepika-Shahid-Ranveer’s Rs-190-crore period drama, the end had Salman Khan-Katrina Kaif starrer Tiger Zinda Hai to give 2017 a good wrap at the box office. The exhibitors were banking on Padmavati as it could have easily filled their theatres for two to three weeks, and after a good run for three weeks they would have welcomed Tiger Zinda Hai (on December 22) with open arms.

But, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film running into trouble with Rajput Karni Sena followed by Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), has thrown industry’s business out of gear particularly since 2017 has been so dismal and poor. “Barring one Baahubali and few rare successes like Golmaal Again and Judwaa 2, the year has had very low collections and footfalls. Obviously so, the entire exhibition and distribution fraternity was desperately depending on Padmavati and Tiger Zinda Hai to size up the situation. Now the dependence on Tiger Zinda Hai is lot heavier,” says Akshay Rathi, film exhibitor and distributor, Mumbai.

“It’s a huge loss for the entire film industry at an all-India level. Padmavati would have done business all across, in single screens as well as multiplexes because of its big canvas and hype due to controversy. Had the film released as scheduled, we were expecting it to have done a business of Rs 300 crore. The theatres would have fetched at least Rs 150 crore out of it. All the other releases in December would fetch just about Rs 5 to Rs 10 crore. Also, after Ajay Devgn’s Golmaal Again, business of no other film looks lucrative until Tiger Zinda Hai happens, and Golmaal is already five weeks old. We have seen nothing big in November, and again till December-end we don’t see anything exciting,” laments Vijay Choksi, another exhibitor-distributor.

Postponement of films mounted on such a huge scale is a rare occurrence and it does impact the industry majorly as the release dates for big budget films are announced way in advance, and makers try to maintain a certain gap between two big releases. But now all that has gone for a toss. While January 12 or February 14 are some of the dates tossed around for Padmavati’s release, uncertainty looms large. The other concern of the exhibitors is lack of big-budgeted releases. The new year will start with only one big release—Akshay Kumar’s Padman which will hit the screens at the end of January(26), 2018.

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And as it is said that one man’s loss is another man’s gain, it is not very surprising that certain filmmakers are now cashing in on the postponement of Padmavati. As per the original plan, three weeks after December 1, right up to Tiger Zinda Hai, there was nothing significant that was coming obviously because of Padmavati's release. Now these three weeks have become very interesting for lot of smaller films, and they will make the most of it with Padmavati vacating the space. Films that were supposed to release on November 24, will now head to the theatres on December 1. Thus, Kapil Sharma’s Firangi and Arbaaz Khan-Sunny Leone’s Tera Intezar have been pushed from November 24 to December 1. Not just that. Earlier, Fukrey Returns announced that they would release a week earlier. While they were supposed to release on December 15, now the film will head to theatres on December 8. Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s Monsoon Shootout witnessed a change too. The film was ready for December 15 release but now one can watch the film on December 8 in their nearby theatres.

"Had Padmavati released on schedule, these smaller films would have got less space. Any relatively smaller film would jump into any space vacated by biggies. They should, why not?" laughs Arun Mehra of Aum Moviez (the largest distributors of films in Eastern Circuit). He further adds, “Firangi, Fukrey have their own limitations and calibre. These films can fill up theatres for just three to four days. But for exhibitors who were unable to replace the space with a programme equivalent to Padmavati, obviously the loss is direct. They are forced to run a programme not as big as Padmavati.”

The other worry for these exhibitors is the slight ambiguity over Tiger Zinda Hai’s release due to CBFC bringing in the focus on the 68-day rule which states that it is the required period by them to pass a judgment on the film censor issues. “And if Tiger Zinda Hai, too, shifts to next year, then 2017 will be the worst ever in recent times. But I don’t know when was this 68-day rule brought back though it always existed. I am hoping that CBFC will be lenient on it. Prasoon (Joshi, CBFC chief) is a reasonable person and he won’t make that as an issue in the beginning,” says Mehra, who also wonders whether the fresh release date for Padmavati would allow it to have an open run or not.

Mumbai exhibitors' woes have been aplenty with several banes plaguing the industry, the gravest of them being piracy. Also, some of them have been openly complaining about the churning of poor quality cinema, which, they feel, will lead to shutting of many more single screen theatres in the country. “On the same day as the film releases, by 4.30pm, the whole film print comes on smart phone. And on top of it, we have makers selling the rights to television which is a big danger to theatres because the mentality is that if we are getting to watch a film free in the bedroom then why go out to theatres. At times, even as films are running in my theatres, it is telecast on television, and now this protest and CBFC issues. Not to forget poor quality films,” exclaims a deeply upset Manoj Desai, owner of Gaiety-Galaxy theatres.

Desai, who has been in the film exhibition business for over 40 years, further says, “I wanted to exhibit Padmavati in all my three theatres. I have suffered losses worth lakh of rupees. Secondly, there is no other good film. I don’t have much faith in Firangi. Rest of the films are bad. Sometimes the films are so bad that we have to remove those from our theatres on Friday evening itself and struggle to get another film. This is not a good sign. I decided to exhibit Sunny Leone’s Tera Intezar thinking public will flock to watch but its release has been deferred. Even Julie 2 has failed to elicit any response.”



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Topics : #Padmavati | #Bollywood

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