The crowds are back. The house full boards are out. Punjabi film Puaada, which opened on Thursday (12th August) in cinemas in North India, was off to a flying start in most of the theatres.
In normal times, for a film starring Ammy Virk and Sonam Bajwa, it is the public report and only the public report which would’ve mattered. But we are living in extraordinary times. Besides the audience’s reactions to a film, what’s also important to assess is whether people are returning to the cinemas after the Coronavirus pandemic lockdown has been lifted or are they still paranoid about leaving their homes. Among Punjabi films, Puaada, directed by Rupinder Chahal, is the first release after the lockdown relaxation. In fact, it is the fist Indian film to have opened in North India after the lifting of the lockdown, because no Hindi film has released so far. It was, therefore, extremely heartening to see that the public was coming in hordes to watch the comedy film. At PVR Elante in Chandigarh, for example, the shows of the first day were full (which means 50% houses, because cinemas are allowed to operate at half capacity only). Likewise, Cinepolis, Amritsar and Cinepolis, Ludhiana recorded full houses in all the shows on the first day! A lot of other cinemas in East Punjab circuit and Delhi city also recorded housefull/impresssive collections. This means, the fear factor (due to the Coronavirus) had decreased, which was great news for the film trade.
The question on the second day was: will the public continue to come to the cinemas? The answer was evident. So outstanding were the public reports of the film that people thronged the cinemas on day 2 also. And then on day 3 (today). As against Rs. 50 lakh (nett) on day 1, the film collected Rs. 45 lakh on day 2 (which mans a drop of only 10%) and Rs. 60 lakh today, day 3 (a jump of 35% over the second day’s collection). In India, the first 3 days’ total is Rs. 1.55 crore. Considering that a lot of cinemas have not yet reopened and also that there are night curfews/restrictions in most cities (because of which night shows cannot be conducted), the total is phenomenal. To put things in better perspective, it needs to be said that as against big-budget Punjabi films like Puaada releasing in 175 cinemas in the pre-COVID days, Puaada opened in just 50 cinemas in the circuit on the first day. Of course, cinemas were added later, after the public response was evident. But still, 175 cinemas is a far cry. In other words, the trade can expect to see collections of the kind it witnessed in 2008 and 2009 when the release of films was in lesser cinemas and the run of films was longer. Because of this, Zee, the film’s distributor, negotiated with the multiplexes and single-screen cinemas and got the same 50% revenue-sharing terms for the first two weeks instead of just the first week.
Looking to the fact that the audience was willing to come to the cinemas and also convinced that the film was carrying outstanding reports, chains like Carnival and Miraj approached distributor Zee to negotiate rental/revenue sharing terms for the film which they then released from the second day (13th August) or in the evening shows of the first day. Point to be noted is that these two chains, like many other non-national-chain multiplexes and single-screen cinemas, had decided against reopening their cinemas just yet as there weren’t too many playing programmes available in the forthcoming weeks except, of course, Bellbottom. (The release of Chehre on 27th August was announced after the cinemas had booked Puaada.) Like properties of Carnival and Miraj in North India, several other multiplexes and single-screen cinemas also took a decision to reopen from 13th with Puaada. In this way, the film opened at Miraj, Pathankot and PVR, Zirakpur on the second day. Likewise, Carnival properties in NOIDA, Gurgaon, Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra, Ludhiana and Tanda reopened in the evening shows on Thursday or from Friday.
If this is the scene in India, Overseas is even better. Canada seemed to have gone berserk over Puaada. Ditto for the UK. Collections in the US are also pretty impressive. In Surrey (South East England), all the night shows today (14th) were sold out in advance. In Vaughn (north of Brampton; Canada), midnight shows of the Punjabi film had to be added to accommodate the heavy crowds! In Australia, the first day’s (Thursday) collection was USD 13,785. The total was USD 21,000 for 2 days. On the second day, it was at no. 8 at the Australian box-office.
The film performed brilliantly in New Zealand also. It grossed USD 13,051 on the first day. Its 2-day total was USD 19,000. On the second day, it was at no. 5 on the New Zealand box-office.
One can’t help but applaud Zee for holding on to the film for months together and not premiering it on OTT. The gamble will yield huge rewards.