Growing up, if there was a movie to catch in a theatre, we always knew Fridays were when you nosed through the papers to find a worthy release. However, in the last few years, films have been releasing on odd days of the week to coincide with festivals and other official holidays. It’s quite evident that this deliberate decision by film-makers and producers is aimed at increasing box office collections, but how effective has it really been?
With one of India’s favourite festivals, Diwali, still very much in our wake, The Hindu had a chat with Shailesh Kapoor – co-founder of Omrax media Ltd, a firm specialising in the media and entertainment industry, about the significance of holidays on Bollywood releases. Apparently, the phenomenon of a Diwali release has very much been in existence for a while; in fact it’s as old as the 80s. But it’s the last four to five years that have witnessed a paradigm shift in the Friday schedule. The multiplex rise – a boon to the well-heeled; bane to the poor – has been at the root of the change. “It wasn’t specifically a holiday a few years ago, but the season itself,” explains Kapoor. “It was then that Aamir Khan started taking control of Christmas, coming out with a film, year after year during the same festive period; first with Taare Zameen Par (2007) and then Ghajini in 2008.” A couple of years later, Shah Rukh Khan followed suit with Ra.One (2011) during Diwali that year. It didn’t do too well at the box office, but it cemented the concept that a film release during a festive period would inevitably have a huge buzz surrounding it. “That one film, I think, really opened up the holiday release market,” declares Kapoor.
The holiday release is both monetarily and culturally connected. A few years back, the first week of a film’s release would constitute 30-40 per cent of its total box office earnings. Today, the first week itself makes up for a staggering 60 to 70 per cent business. Essentially, if the folks behind a film are depending on that first week to make or break their bank, a holiday release could just be that godsend they’re after. A case study is Besharam (2013), which released on Gandhi Jayanti. “It did Rs. 20 crore on the first day, and then Rs. 30 to Rs. 35 crore in its entire run,” says Kapoor. It’s that differentiating factor that distinguishes an average film from a hit one; and an average flick from a flop.
Then come the cultural ramifications. Audiences are not looking at cinema-going as a family activity. It’s more of an outing with friends; with college students comprising a majority of the footfall in a cinema. Despite high ticket prices and the few and far-in-between options, a film is the primary choice for a fam-jam on a holiday. And what’s more inclusive than a film like Bajrangi Bhaijaan or Prem Ratan Dhan Payo released during a festive period? A family will go in groups of 6 to 8 and that’s also a bigger volume of sale for the theatre. As for the trade point of view, when a big flick like Prem Ratan Dhan Payo is released, all the screens in the theatre go to that film. So your multiplex effectively becomes a single-screener.
As it would seem, Diwali is quite the ideal opportunity for a holiday film release. “On Diwali itself, the collections are not strong, but it picks up immediately after,” says Kapoor. For example, Ra.One , released on the first day of Diwali, collected only Rs. 13 crore. The next day, it fetched Rs. 20 to Rs. 25 crore. Even Krrish 3 , which released on Dhanteras in 2013, first raked up Rs. 19 crore, but by the fourth day, the one after Diwali, it scooped up a whopping Rs. 30 crore.
In this holiday capitalisation frenzy, today you’ve got filmmakers and producers exploiting holidays which aren’t really big-ticket celebrations. For example, Bakrid saw Kapil Sharma’s film Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon (2015) release. “They still give a 10-15 per cent advantage to a film,” says Kapoor. Then there’s Good Friday, not a festive holiday with it being Christ’s crucifixion and all, but it’s good for Bollywood releases. Even the 1st of May has been used to release films like Shootout at Wadala (2013).
It gets murkier. Grappling for holiday releases also affects the rest of the Bollywood fraternity. “There’s a lot of speculation about who’s going to replace the Khans as the next lot of stars since they’ve crossed 50,” states Kapoor. “Till you have a holiday release, a young star will never really have that kind of impact at the box office.” Plus, it’s hard; economically and otherwise for the trade to refuse big ticket stars that holiday window. And so the gap continues to widen.
For instance, Shandaar (2015) was released on Dussehra. In spite of receiving the advantage of the holiday, bad word-of-mouth reviews ruined the film’s chances. If released midweek and not appreciated, a film can sink really fast. It’s a similar case with Besharam (2013) that released on October 2. It got the push of the holiday but by the time Sunday rolled round, the film was done with.
