My daughter was after me since last few days to see Chennai express!! As was my usual habit, I checked on the reviews of the film. Almost all the critics have panned the film with one even declaring 'board at your own risk'. I told the same to my daughter who just wouldn't agree with the reviews (shah rukh power i guess!!!). I reminded her of the last time we had the same conversation. The critics equally panned Ra One but my daughter forced me to go to the movie with her and the day we went there were just a little over 20 people in the theatre and too in inox!!!. And i came back with a splitting headache from the movie!!! So she grudgingly kept quiet!!!
Yesterday she told me - 'papa chennai express is going to cross 200 crores this week'. I thought she was joking but a quick search on the net confirmed what she said!! How could a film so poorly rated by critics do so well at the box office?!!!
Are the critics dumb or the audiences? I did a bit of research and found out quite interesting points. Have a look!!
Chennai express was released in 7000+ screens across all territories. Considering the average occupancy of each screen, they may be fetching atleast 50,000 per day. Multiply that with 7000 screens result in a whopping 35 crores per day!!! So if any such film just manages to run 5 days, it is sure to earn at least 100 crores. During this period and before there are certain actions taken by the production houses:-
before release
--------------
1. generate a lot of buzz about the movies from a few months before release
2. attend tv events, shows, inaugurations
3. incessant interviews of lead actors
4. ads on tv and internet
5. high profile release
6. enroll cyber armies. this is to counter every critic on the internet in the first few days so that a credible opinion on the movie does not come out and keeps the potential viewer confused about the movie (even if it is definitely bad)
all this will ensure a high initial turnout
after release
---------------
1. Release high figures for first day gross
2. have all actors talk about how happy they are with the success
3. big tv and paper ads about the success and gross collections
4. have cyber armies actively praise the movie online
5. keep the buzz alive
6. keep the potential viewer interested
Also, when someone says that a movie is a 70 crore movie, we would like to know the breakdown like
hero fee-
heroine fee-
all other actors fee-
ads budget -
director fee-
all other persons fee-
fee need to be paid no doubt, but the renumeration paid to individuals does not add to the technical values of a film. So if i want to know on what a grand scale a movie is made, then i would like to know how much was spent on locations, sets, special effects, stunts, technical advancements etc!!!
Also, it brings us to an important question. Can everyone get 7000 screens for his release? Obviously not - as Ajay devgan found out some time back. Therefore if you have 3500 screens instead of 7000, then your collections are cut in half!!!. This means that collections are not a result of good cinema but a clever manipulation of screens by the production houses!! You may make a bad movie in 20 crores but if you release in 7000 screens with as much publicity, it will still return a substantial profit in the first three days itself!!
So, in the present day, the success of a film does not talk of the quality of the film!!! (this is not a comment on Chennai Express as I haven't yet seen the film)
p.s:- Still, we are going to see Chennai Express today becoz I too am confused !!! And that sums up the story!!!
yes , i do agree with the post , but i still belive... every actor wants his / her movie to do well . so, all actors try to get maximum attention from the audiences for their movies . no doubt they create confusion for the audiences , but they never themselves say the movie is a hit . we are the ones who watch the movie cauz we like the trailers , we like the hero/heroine in the movie or sometimes even cauz we like the huge sum of money put in the making of the movie.i know the post has nothing to do with chennai express but i like to insure you as you have not seen the movie, chennai express was an good and funny entertainer...
ReplyDeleteyeah true!!
Deletebut we are not here to make money for the actors!!! we are here to ensure that we get max entertainment for the money we spend!!! if i am spending 1500-2000 rupees (which is a considerable amount for me) to watch just one movie in inox with my family, then i want to be doubly sure that i get my money's worth!!!!
this is all about getting your money's worth from the movie dear, and not about why or how an actor/actress is selling their movie!!!!!
even though an actor knows his or her movie is not doing well , why would he tell the truth to the people and stop the rest of the audiences from coming.as they do not want their hardwork and time they put in the making of the flim to go in vain .... its no trick . they have to do everything they can, to get publicity.... they are not conning us , they try their best to convince us to watch their movie.
ReplyDeletei fully agree with what you said!!! and i think u missed the point while reading this post becoz that is exactly what i was said too!!!! that the actors/production houses would always call their film a hit no matter its quality. they may not be conning us but we also should not take their claims of a film being 'super hit' at face value!!!!!!!!
Deleteand waste our hard earned money!!!
Yes,fully agree ... But I'd like to say that as our money and specially our time is very important we are the ones who need to wisely decide which movie is worth our money. We are the ones who need to do a little research on the movie , cauz our time is important so we need to put a price on our time too. With all to your respect I'd to say it is foolishness to expect from the actors and production to speck the truth about their movies.... And someone needs to spread awareness to people about these things on which you have been doing a great job....
ReplyDelete