What’s happening with The Kashmir Files is unprecedented! The film, which opened in 600 screens on 11th March, was running in approximately 2,000 screens on Saturday (12th) and the number has further gone up today (13th) by roughly 350-450! That’s not all. People are thronging the cinemas in hordes to watch the film. The advance booking for the hard-hitting film is of the kind rarely seen before. People are booking tickets not for their entire family but for groups of 20, 30, 40, 50 and 100! Why, there have been reports from some cinemas where enthusiastic members of the public are asking if booking an entire show is possible.
Shows are running to full capacities in cinemas from North to South and East to West. The demand for the film seems to be unstoppable. It seems that just two days after release, The Kashmir Files has not remained a film, it has become a movement.
It may be pointed out here that the limited release (of less than 700 screens) was intentional. Zee, which had started the social media promotion of the film way back in December last year, succeeded in creating a strong buzz around it. At the time of release, the all-world distributor decided to go in for the unsaturated release strategy. Zee wanted the film to gather steam as it went along rather than flooding the market with the film’s shows. The intention was to have the house-full boards adorning at least some cinemas by creating an ‘artificial scarcity’ of the film.
Actually, even Zee was unprepared for this kind of response. Probably, Film Information was the only magazine which envisaged that the demand for the film would force exhibitors to increase the shows and the screens for the film. We quote from our review: ‘Exhibitors will be forced to increase the film’s shows mid-week itself.’ But even Information never expected that the 600-odd screens would become 2,000-plus screens in a matter of 24 hours! A lot of screens and shows were added on Friday itself!
The film, made on a shoe-string budget of Rs. 15 crore, is scaling unprecedented heights at the box-office. It is difficult to estimate how much the film will end up netting in the first week and in its entire run. It lifetime box-office total could be Rs. 100 crore, 150 crore, even 200 crore. Actually, the above figures are wild guesses because nobody knows where the film is headed and where it will stop. Whatever its final lifetime business would be, it seems all set to become one of the biggest blockbusters of recent times as far as Return on Investment (RoI) is concerned.
Information had also mentioned in its review of the film: ‘However, the continuous flow of new film releases, especially big star-cast ones, in the coming weeks will tell adversely on the film’s business from its second week onwards as showcasing will become a problem for it.’ We stand corrected. The way the film is attracting crowds, it would not be incorrect to now say that instead of The Kashmir Files, showcasing could actually become a problem for the new film (Bachchhan Paandey) scheduled for release on the coming Friday (18th March).
Yes, The Kashmir Files is like a hurricane which will pose tough competition to every film that comes in its way for the next week or two!