“No film is doing well!” “How will the industry survive?” “Aisa chalta raha toh cinemas bandh karne padenge!” “Just don’t understand, what the audience wants.”
How many times have we heard such comments? In the recent past, every film trade gathering has such comments and statements of despair floating in abundance. Such anguish-laden conversations invariably end with comments like, “Let’s pray, iss hafte waali film chal jaaye!”or “I hope, we get some good news this week.”
And what happens when the good news does arrive? Champagne bottles are opened? Gloom and despondency give way to joy and celebration? Perish the thought!
Nothing of the sort happened when Aamir Khan’s Sitaare Zameen Par was declared a box-office hit on Friday last (June 20). Rather than partake in the happy tidings, the trade people lost no time in badmouthing the film and underscoring its assumed failure.
Just sample the conversations I’ve had with various trade people in the last five days.
One producer called to tell me that Aamir Khan was block-booking tickets to prove to the world that his “flop” film was a hit. “Flop film?!” I wondered aloud. “Aap ko nahin pataa?” came the reply. “Aamir Khan is buying tickets left, right and centre.” When I tried to put sense into this producer’s prejudiced head by telling him that my friends had seen the film in housefull auditoria and enjoyed it thoroughly, the producer’s face fell. “Chalo, that’s good news,” he said meekly, visibly uncomfortable that the film was turning out to be a hit.
An exhibitor from Jaipur called and pompously announced, “Komal ji, aap ne toh film ki badi tareef kar di hai lekin collections toh bahut kharaab hai.” When I reasoned that the start in his circuit may have been slow and that collections would pick up from Saturday, this exhibitor had the gall to tell me that that wouldn’t happen because the public reports were “terrible”. His voice dropped when I insisted that the film was on its way to becoming a blockbuster, not just a hit. I’m sure, he must’ve cursed me under his breath before disconnecting the phone, promising to let me know “tomorrow”. Of course, the telephone never flashed his name on the morrow. He must’ve been busy visiting cinema halls in his city to see whether the crowds for the film were for real!
Then, there’s this corporate head who pretended to be very concerned for Aamir Khan while actually being critical of him. “Yaar, bahut bura hua,” he started his conversation with me at a filmland event. Perplexed, I asked him what he meant, and his reply stunned me. “I’ve heard that Aamir is regretting his decision to not sell the OTT rights of Sitaare Zameen Par.” And how exactly did he know that Aamir was regretful of his decision? Pat came the reply to the question which I never asked but which he probably understood, was playing on my mind, “I’ve heard so, that’s what people are saying.” When I clarified that Aamir’s film was turning out to be a super-hit, his face fell so obviously that it looked like I had given him the worst news of his lifetime. And this very corporate head had, just a week earlier, expressed great concern that films were falling like nine pins at the turnstiles.
The best came from a distributor (not of Sitaare Zameen Par, of course). “Aamir Khan is doomed,” he declared excitedly. “Just why?” I demanded to know. “Don’t you know?” he queried in reply and continued without even catching his breath, “His film is faring so badly that he has had to book tickets in wholesale.” But how are the cinemas packed to capacity, I wanted to know from him. “In the case of films like Sky Force, when the BookMyShow app showed a full house, the auditorium in reality showed only 8-10 occupied seats while the rest were all empty,” I reminded this distributor. Realising that he was barking up the wrong tree, the man promptly remarked in his defence, “Actually, I am part of this WhatsApp group, in which one member mentioned that tickets were being booked in bulk.” After a pause for a couple of seconds, he continued, “Now I understand. This member is a frustrated soul. He talks ill of every successful film. He’s done this in the past, and he’s doing it again.” My question to this distributor, “If you know, he has done this in the past, what prompted you to believe him this time?” Of course, I didn’t bother to put the question to him because, like that member was vomiting nonsense, this distributor too was doing only that and I wasn’t keen to listen to rubbish.
It’s sad that rather than thanking our stars for a genuine super-hit, the trade people should be working overtime to discredit it. Many in the trade have this abhorrent habit of clinging on to their opinion even when box-office collections prove otherwise. It’s alright for one’s judgement to go wrong, but it’s definitely not right to badmouth a hit film simply becasue you did not think that it would prove successful. After release, nobody’s opinion or report can be more important than the box-office collections. Because opinions are subjective, but collections are objective. In fact, box-office collections are the only objective way to assess a film’s true performance.
P.S.: I’ve been thinking about why so many people, who individually and collectively stand to gain from any successful film, would want to believe the worst about a genuine box-office hit. I can only think of one reason: frustration! People are so frustrated that the only thing that gives them solace is another’s failure. Sad… but true!
