When Chhaava is doing well at the box-office, what was the need to do block bookings in advance booking?

– There are more than one reason why the producers may have block-booked tickets in advance booking. For one, nobody can be sure about the fate of a film before the film’s release. Secondly, there may have been the urge to project the film as a bigger success than what it would turn out to be. Thirdly, there may have been the desire to show a certain figure as the film’s opening day’s collection.

When I started to read your review of Chhaava last Friday, I had the nagging feeling that you would criticise the film. Although I’ve known you to be an unbiased trade analyst, who believes in impartial reviews, your exposé video about block bookings, which seems to have not gone down too well with producer Dinesh Vijan, and your subsequent tweet about Dinesh Vijan not inviting you for the press show of his Chhaava because of the exposé video, gave me a feeling that even an honest person like you would this one time give in to the emotion of revenge and give the film a negative review. But I was pleasantly surprised to see that you had praised the film and predicted that it would succeed at the box-office. Had Vijan made peace with you before your review was out?

– No, Dinesh Vijan has not made peace with me — neither before nor after my review. But, to put things in perspective, my honesty and integrity don’t change by the minute as they are not defined by the actions of a handful of people. Besides, I review films, not people or their character.

When will Atlee’s film with Salman Khan roll?

– Maybe, never!

Why did Hollywood film Captain America: Brave New World not record good advance booking numbers? It has also not opened too well today.

– It could be because the title role is being played by Anthony Mackie who is not in the top league of actors. He is not as popular among the Indian public as many other Hollywood stars.

How did the trade react to your YouTube video exposing the system of block bookings and reporting of inflated collections by some producers to paint a rosy picture of their films?

– Most of the trade people are repulsed by this practice. Therefore, they appreciated the video. Not just that, they also condemned the retaliatory move by producer Dinesh Vijan to intentionally not invite me for the press show of CHHAAVA on 13th February as SKY FORCE, which I spoke about at length in the said video, is produced by Vijan.

Is it true that the advance booking of Chhaava was good in Maharashtra?

– CHHAAVA is a Maharashtra-centric historical and hence recorded very good advance booking. At Chaphalkars’ City Pride multiplex in Kothrud, Pune, the first show of the film started today (14th February) at 5.45 a.m. And it was housefull in advance!!

How does it help to inflate box-office collections by doing block bookings of tickets of a film, as is being done these days?

– Block booking serves to massage the egos of the persons associated with the film because it gives the impression to the trade that the film has done well — at least, that’s what the persons associated with the film would like to believe. Of course, in reality, the trade people are not easy to fool or mislead because they know the facts on ground level. There’s another angle too. Since most of the film media people are generally irresponsible in disseminating information about film business figures and hence happily report the fake collections (sometimes for favours in return, and sometimes because they don’t have the wherewithal to verify the collections before reporting them), the public is also misled into believing that the film has performed the way the producers want people to feel. Occasionally, this misconception among people might prompt them to watch the ‘hit’ or ‘successful’ film, leading to more footfalls.

Producers used to ‘buy’ tickets of their own films in the 1980s and 1990s too. Then why is such a hue and cry being made about block bookings now?

– In the good old days, producers used to resort to ‘feeding’ in a couple of cinemas only. Block bookings today are on an altogether different level. For a recent film, the producers block-booked tickets worth Rs. 40 crore (net collections). In those days, producers used to ‘tear tickets’ worth, say, a few thousand rupees only.

What kind of opening will next week’s Chhaava take?

– Bumper!

Business has become so unpredictable. The teaser of Deva was liked by the public or so it seemed, but the film has not even opened to decent houses, leave alone excellent?

– Yes, that’s strange. The only reason one can think of for the lacklustre opening today (January 31) is that the momentum for the film could not be maintained by the producers after the initial hype following the teaser launch.

Aamir Khan was to have released his Sitaare Zameen Par last Christmas. But the film has now been shifted to Christmas 2025. That would mean a delay of exactly a year! Is such a long delay justified?

– Justified as in what? It is Aamir’s film and he doesn’t need to justify why he is delaying the film by a year. Perhaps, what you mean to ask is whether such a long delay is appropriate. To that, all one can say is that the producer knows best what is good for his film — and that includes deciding on the release date too.

What, according to you, are the main reasons for so many films not opening well enough?

– The reasons are several: filmmakers usually not working on their film’s music; producers and distributors often neglecting paper, street and electronic publicity and instead concentrating too much on social media publicity; high admission rates; the small window of only a few weeks between a film’s theatrical and OTT release. And, of course, poor content!

Why hasn’t Sky Force taken a good start today?

– It was clear that SKY FORCE would not open too well because the heat expected to be generated after its teaser and trailer — which is so necessary for a film to open well — was simply missing.

Do you think, the delay in the release of Emergency came in the way of its performance at the box-office?

– The delay could’ve affected the initial to an extent. Besides, the biggest plus point of the film was the extraordinary performance of Kangana Ranaut as Indira Gandhi, not its content. However, for a film to perform well at the ticket windows, it needs to impress the audience in totality, which can happen only if its has an arresting or entertaining script. That was missing.

After the debacle of Azaad, what do you think is the future of Rasha Thadani?

– Since she is beautiful and a good dancer, she will get more offers for sure.  

Did the postponement of Emergency release from last September adversely affect its opening today?

– It definitely must’ve adversely affected the release because the postponement was of about four months. If a film is postponed by some months, the audience sometimes get the feeling that it has become stale.

Why hasn’t Azaad taken even a decent initial today? After all, it stars newcomers from film families. Rasha Thadani is the daughter of Raveena Tandon while Aaman Devgan is the nephew of Ajay Devgan.

– Films with newcomers are a challenge today. Given the high ticket prices in cinemas, films made with new faces have to actually struggle for footfalls. When films with big stars are often unsuccessful in luring the public to the cinemas, you can well imagine how difficult it has become for films introducing new actors to do the same.

Will Deva take a nice start on 31st January? And before that, is Sky Force likely to open well?

– The excitement for DEVA is growing rapidly because of the catchy teaser. Another film which is attracting attention is LOVEYAPA, starring Junaid Khan and Khushi Kapoor.  

Of the forthcoming films, which film’s teaser/trailer has been liked by the public the most? On that basis, can we assume that that film will get a good opening when it is released?

– The public seems to be giving its love to the teaser of DEVA. Going by the buzz for the film, it should get a good opening, but for that to happen, it is also necessary that the producers maintain the tempo of the promotion till 30th January, the day when DEVA will hit the screens.

Where do you think, the Hindi dubbed version of Pushpa: The Rule Part 2 will stop?

– Around Rs. 775 crore! Needless to add, this is the highest net collections ever for a Hindi film. Paradoxically, the record for the biggest Hindi film will be held by the dubbed Hindi version of a Telugu film. Exactly, like it was held for several years by the Hindi dubbed version of BAHUBALI 2: THE CONCLUSION till the record was broken last year by PATHAAN. The record of PATHAAN was then broken by GADAR 2, which record was broken by JAWAN. STREE 2 this year outshone JAWAN. But PUSHPA: THE RULE PART 2 (Hindi dubbed) has already overtaken STREE 2 by a huge margin — and the film is still running in the cinemas!

Was it the right strategy to let Marco (Hindi dubbed) grow by word of mouth? The producers hardly spent anything on the promotion of the Hindi dubbed version!

– The producers should’ve released the film after at least creating awareness about it and its release. Had they done that, the collections would’ve picked up faster than they did! The Hindi dubbed version was released with almost no publicity. Hence it took a week for the positive word of mouth to spread. Another dubbed version of a South film, which had positive word of mouth and which was also released with dull promotion, was MAHARAJ. But that Tamil film was not as lucky as MARCO because the collections of its Hindi dubbed version did not jump as much as they should’ve.  

If you were given the power to change something about the community of actors in Bollywood, what would you change first?

– The size of their entourage, which accompanies them wherever they go, but adds precious little. I would cut that to size!

Why is it that most of the times, it is South films which are more different from the routine than Bollywood films?

– It is because the South producers are a braver lot. They are more experimentative by nature and hence they like to produce films which are different from the routine stuff. And since they are also mainstream producers, they make commercial films which are different. In Bollywood, producers usually tend to play safe. And those who play safe are resistant to change or to thinking out of the box.

What is the ideal time period to promote a film?

– Anything between three and six weeks, depending on a number of factors like budget of the film, promotion budget, star cast, music, other films running or due for release, etc.

Why did Baby John not take an initial to be proud of?

– The trailer of the film had not found much appreciation among the public. Besides, Varun Dhawan has not had a success for long and, therefore, there was no reason for BABY JOHN to open to impressive houses. Had the film not released on the festive holiday of Christmas, the initial would’ve been even worse!

There was so much of tension about show allocation between Baby John (1st week) and Pushpa: The Rule Part 2 (Hindi dubbed; 3rd week). But now that Baby John has not lived up to expectations, will the shows of Baby John be reduced in its second week in favour of Pushpa: The Rule Part 2?

– What do you mean by “will the shows… be reduced in its second week…?” The shows of PUSHPA: THE RULE PART 2 (Hindi dubbed) were increased by many cinemas and those of BABY JOHN, reduced, from the second day itself. When footfalls for the PUSHPA sequel were much more than those for BABY JOHN on the first day of the new film, why would exhibitors knowingly suffer losses by maintaining status quo?

Why is the Telugu film industry not standing in support of Allu Arjun who is being penalised for the stampede in Hyderabad on December 4 on the occasion of the premiere of his Telugu film, Pushpa: The Rule Part 2?

– You are right! The entire Telugu film industry should come out in support of Allu Arjun. It was the failure of the police machinery, not Allu Arjun’s fault, which led to the stampede in which a woman was killed and her minor son was seriously injured.

Has the matter of allotment of shows to Pushpa: The Rule Part 2 (Hindi dubbed) and Baby John from 25th December been resolved between the exhibitors and the producers/distributors of the two films?

– Yes, it was resolved late last night. Read details elsewhere in our issue.

Why did Vanvaas not open well today (20th December)? Is it because of the Pushpa 2 wave?

– VANVAAS opened to a lukewarm response partly because of the continuing craze for PUSHPA 2. But it is also a fact that even otherwise, the promotion of VANVAAS had not caught the fancy of the public. So, a dull initial for the film was on the cards.       

Is there a slump in production activity in Bollywood?

– Yes, there is a decline in the number of films being announced and started because producers and stars are in a confused state of mind about what to make. A wrong step could prove to be an expensive mistake.