Now that the dust has settled and the two big releases of this week have been released, it is time to introspect on the release tensions given by demanding distributors to exhibitors. Single-screen cinemas this week had a trying time because AA Films, the all-India distributor of the dubbed Hindi version of Kantara A Legend: Chapter 1, insisted on having all the shows and was unwilling to allow the cinemas to offer even one show to Karan Johar’s Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari, another big film which hit the screens this week. The case of the multiplexes was no different — Anil Thadani of AA Films insisted that the number of shows for Kantara in the multiplexes had been decided by him and they would not be changed by the multiplex owners/controllers/bookers/programmers.
When PVR Inox opened the advance booking counters in one screen at some properties for both the films on Tuesday (September 30) and used the sales figures to assess the demand pattern for the two films, AA Films had no option but to yield and agree to reduce the number of shows they had originally been demanding for Kantara. But AA Films continued to be adamant as far as single-screen cinemas were concerned. They put their foot down on the question of sharing shows with Sunny… Tulsi. For instance, Sanjay Surana, the owner of Kamal Talkies, Nagpur was categorically asked by the agent of AA Films in C.P. Berar — Harish Janiani — to not release Kantara because he (Surana) had announced both the new films at the cinema. Sanjay Surana told Information, “I’ve been releasing multiple films at my superbly maintained cinema since years. The footfalls at my cinema can rival those at any multiplex in the city. Because of the healthy collections, distributors are fine when I screen two films a day. But AA Films asked me to either release Kantara in all the six/seven shows daily or not release it at all.” Surana was keen to screen both the new films — and he did exactly that. Incidentally, Kamal Talkies often conducts up to seven shows daily, with the last show sometimes starting as late as at 11.55 p.m.! In the Dassera week, his cinema is conducting six shows daily — 9 a.m., 12 noon, 3 p.m., 6 p.m., 9 p.m., 12 midnight. Point to note is that although Kantara A Legend: Chapter 1 (dubbed) has fared far better than Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari, as was expected, the former film did not draw a single show full. Of course, the performance of Sunny… Tulsi at Kamal Talkies, Nagpur, has been poor. But that’s not the question. The point being underlined here is the insistence of some distributors to corner all the shows for their film without understanding or assessing whether the film in question needs all the shows. The aim seems to be to make things difficult for the other film releasing alongwith their film in the same week.
In the case of the Dassera week, it is baffling that the producers and distributor of Kantara (dubbed) insisted on such a huge number of shows in single-screen cinemas and multiplexes in every single circuit, without appreciating the fact that the first Kantara had started slow in Hindi. It was perfectly in order for the producers of the film to insist for a crazy number of shows daily for the original version, but doing the same thing for the Hindi dubbed version was not necessary at all. And that has been proved by the opening day’s net collection total of Rs. 19 crore which, no doubt, is a good figure but definitely not so huge that Thadani and his agents in various circuits should’ve been so insistent on such a large number of shows per screen. Of course, this is film business and predictions and expectations can sometimes go wrong. But if they expected the dubbed version to collect Rs. 40-45 crore (which is borne out by the fact that they asked for the unrealistic number of shows), they must admit that they were widely off the mark.
‘Live and let live’ is the best policy and it has stood the film trade in good stead over the years. Why tamper with what’s working so well for the industry?
