For those who think “Indian audience do not like isolated cinema”, and also for those who think “Indian audience are open only for star films.”

Straight to the point-

Just when Shanghai got a poor opening, people started to trash Indian audience that they cannot gallop different films like SHANGHAI. Some considering themselves as Einstein of cinema also said that Indian audience do not understand film like SHANGHAI.

Now let’s see the cases when these different and intelligent films connected well with audience.

PAAN SINGH TOMAR- Lovely a film, the audience liked the film a lot and thus despite of several stringent competitions that it faced in multiplexes with “London Paris New York” in first week and “Kahaani” in very second week, PAAN SINGH TOMAR still hit the 15cr mark after having made just 60 lakhs on day one. It took more than 100% jump on second day (Now, this is called a record) because of its terrific content. Not with a single chartbuster, and not even one such star that has staunch fan following, PAAN SINGH TOMAR went on doing 15cr which is sort of remarkable.

STANLEY KA DABBA- What a film! A film which starred all new characters except for Amol Gupte who is famous within may be just 1% of total country; this film did 5.5cr lifetime business. Many of you might be laughing that this guy is making 5.5cr sound like 100crs. No, I am not! All I am telling you is that despite of a terrible opening of I guess less than 30 lakhs, if a film does 5.5cr than that is something to cheer about. I agree that poor openers can sustain on lower side so nothing great, but even if STANLEY KA DABBA would have just sustained on lower side (with not a good word of mouth) even then it would have not made 3cr. But its 5.5cr! Later on the film was tax exempted and the ticket prices were very less. Films based on kids have never opened well in this country (even TZP had a poor opening). Here, the point is that if a film is good, it’s WOM will be speeded.

KAMINEY- Yes it had two very known faces and also couple of good songs. Here I am saying that despite of being smart and different in approach it worked with audience. It made 42cr which a good figure for the kind of film it is. It had a dark humour and also there was no spoon-feeding about the twists it had. It was all kept very confidential and audience just got it.

Yes I gave you just three instances where Audience have accepted the different cinema. This brings me to SHANGHAI, one of those rare pioneer type cinemas. If Shanghai is made well it should hit at-least 30cr, if it’s not than it won’t make even 25cr. Yes sometimes its not all box office, but if you want to see that whether audience gave a thumbs up to SHANGHAI, you cannot get better scientific answer than box office numbers.

My point is, do not undermine Indian viewers just because these films do not open well. People who spend their money on films would not like to go it waste, and films like SHANGHAI are risky to invest in for that matter.

Now for those who think Indian audience have opened up only for Star driven flicks-

Just one thing- The big star cast films like Agent Vinod, Department, Tezz, Players, Jannat 2 all together did 15cr less than what Kahaani, Paan Singh Tomar, Vicky Donor and Ishaqzaade did.

At the other hand, The Khans, Roshan, Kumar, Devgn all’s film open to huge numbers because they are on their position because of good work. If they would have continued to make bad films then they would have been nowhere in the competition. They did good work and they are standing high.

And last thing- Indian audience have become candid towards cinema. If SHANGHAI takes opening of 3cr then it may be less because of extensive release, but its a good total for the kind of film it is. Its time we should celebrate because of the kind of response even small films are getting.

Indian audience are the ultimate judge of cinema’s quality.

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20 Comments
  1. Baba Ji 12 years ago

    sanket – good write up and i agree with whatever u hv said.only Satyamshot members blame audience for failure of movies.Not elsewhere.
    I never made any such comments.I only have problem with extreme BOI commentary who trashed shanghai saying it has bad reports when not even half of friday was over.It didnt trash PST or kahaani bcos they ddint release in second week of RR.BOI commentaries are like IBOS these days.

  2. Tango 12 years ago

    Good write up.

    I have always said that there is a difference between good cinema (Khosla Ka Ghosla, No One Killed Jessica, Kahaani etc.) and abstract cinema (No Smoking, Maine Gandhi Ko Nahi Maara etc).

    Audience will always patronise good alternate cinema but not abstract cinema in the name of art.

    • Milind 12 years ago

      Tangoji,

      Abstract Cinema can be termed “wannabe” at times. No Smoking is bizzare and weird.Every Cinema has a purpose but some meander ambiguously.No Smoking was one of them!

    • sputnik 12 years ago

      Welcome to the forum Tango. Yesterday I wasn’t sure if it was the same Tango that I knew.

      Agree with you on No Smoking but Maine Gandhi Ko Nahi Maara was not abstract. The movie was good but the ending kind of ruined it.

  3. Milind 12 years ago

    Brilliantly written.Excellent set of thoughts.

    Kaminey saw late releases due to swine flu.Had losses!

  4. sputnik 12 years ago

    @Sanket,

    Good write up. One nitpicking – you should have may be used “different” instead of “isolated” in the title of the post.

    • Milind 12 years ago

      ^^^^^^ Ye Tanqeed tha ya Nukta-Cheeni. 🙂 😉 😀

      • sputnik 12 years ago

        I already said its “nitpicking” – Nukta-Cheeni 😉

  5. Tango 12 years ago

    I agree Sputnik but I said that just as an example. For the average audience MGKNM was kind of bizarre.

    Examples of recnt good cinema in my book are – Amir, Welcome To Sajjanpur, Dor, of course Khosla Ka Ghosla, Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye, even Dev D (though Kasjyap went berserk towards the latter parts with his Paharganj drug psychedelic shots). No One Killed Jessica, and that film with Naseer & Anupam (by Rajkumar Gupta) etc. etc.

  6. Tango 12 years ago

    Thanks Milind, Narad_muni and the rest.

    BTW- Who owns this site and how can I get posting rights?

    • sputnik 12 years ago

      I gave you posting rights. But one request though – please don’t post those young starlet interviews/articles you post on NG 😉 Please don’t mind.

    • Milind 12 years ago

      Welcome Tangoji.To have you is our greatest pleasure. 🙂 Please help us to promote ourselves amongst the inner circles of Bollywood. 🙂

  7. Tango 12 years ago

    Must add here that I am a huge fan of the kind of films Dibakar makes, so I’m reserving my views on Shanghai till I see it.

  8. Tango 12 years ago

    “I gave you posting rights. But one request though – please don’t post those young starlet interviews/articles you post on NG 😉 Please don’t mind.”

    Why should I mind mate?

    BTW- I started posting those just recently, that too, as I did not know what else to post, as every post used to be attacked by immature/young fans.

    • sputnik 12 years ago

      “I did not know what else to post, as every post used to be attacked by immature/young fans.”

      Ha ha. LOL

  9. Tango 12 years ago

    BTW- Thanks for the posting rights Sputnik.

    I’ll try to visit this site at least once daily (time permitting), as I have liked what I have seen here, mature posts, people and sensible discussions.

    • sputnik 12 years ago

      Thanks Tango. That was the whole aim for creating this forum and it needs support from members like you.

  10. fearlesssoul 12 years ago

    Each film caters to different audience, Each star has his own following, Each director has his niche market similarly Expectations has its own take in the market.

    When you say its the time of masala / remakes then Gangs of Wasseypur is also a masala flick, shanghai is also a masala flick and they are neither abstract nor real cinema… If they don’t open well as per the expectations then there is something wrong in the hype, unfortunately there is no instrument to guage the expectation of the public or hype of the film. A small rumour can harm biggest celibrity’s personal life as he advances to clear the air similar way this hype can also be termed as rumour most of the time. Like sometimes rumours turn true to facts similar way these hype may turn out to be real. One gets the feeling to judge but his judgement or intuition may not be right always.

    If shangai is a film that needs only 4.5cr then 3 cr is very good but here the director has claimed abt its recovery due to his insecurity and may be he know he has faltered somewhere. I hardly see any director even mentions that if he is not pressurised or is in a situation like dibaker is.

  11. Serenzy 12 years ago

    “I have always said that there is a difference between good cinema & Abstract Cinema.”

    Great Point…I totally get the Flow.
    Tango at his Finest.
    😉

  12. Serenzy 12 years ago

    Content is King but Audience/Junta is Kingmaker.

    😀

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