It’s half-time and practically every month has been educational.
In January, Hanu-Man minted approximately ₹350 crore. Despite director Prashant Varma and hero Teja Sajja being unknown beyond the Telugu world, the Hindi dubbed version, just by itself, grossed more than its total budget of ₹40 crore. The same month, Deepika Padukone in a bikini and Hrithik Roshan as a desi Top Gun were packaged by Pathaan director Siddharth Anand, who spent ₹250 crore to make Fighter. It went down like a rookie, requiring a collection of more than ₹400 crore to be called a winner.
Did we just learn a lesson in costing that also questions the astronomical sums paid to actors and directors?
In February, Aditya Dhar of “How’s the josh?” fame produced a well-researched film on the abrogation of Article 370. Directed by Aditya Suhas Jambhale, who’s not popular on the Hindi circuit, it was cost-controlled at ₹20 crore. When the theatrical revenue crossed ₹110 crore, it was champagne time.
Next month, Ajay Devgn and R. Madhavan worked on the supernatural horror film, Shaitaan. Vikas Bahl directed the taut remake of Vash, a Gujrati film, at a cost of approximately ₹65 crore. Enjoying the benefit of a subsidy when shot in England, the recovery of ₹211 crore made Shaitaan the third hit of the year. Contrast it with Ajay Devgn’s Maidaan, the superbly filmed story of football coach Syed Abdul Rahim. But with a price tag of ₹235 crore, a collection of ₹68 crore made it a disastrous Eid release. When the ₹350 crore Bade Miyan Chote Miyan yielded barely ₹102 crore, not covering even Akshay Kumar’s, Tiger Shroff’s and director Ali Abbas Zafar’s fees, it was like an April Fool prank on the industry.
In June, Kabir Khan splurged ₹100 to 150 crore on the Kartik Aaryan film Chandu Champion. Whatever the precise cost, grossing ₹78 crore (which is not the net sum that the producer earns) signalled a clear loser.
The same month, Aditya Sarpotdar, another director unknown to the Hindi audience, made the horror-comedy Munjya. Budgeted at approximately ₹35 crore, Munjya hit a jackpot by earning more than ₹123 crore.
Is it still a mystery why Hindi films with fat star fees and bloated budgets are losing big time at the box office?
Instead of the whining that’s heard all over, here’s what the only winning heroine of this period had to say.
“When you believe in a film and it connects with the audience, showing up not just in numbers but backing you with their respect which is extremely hard-earned, I think that’s the purest form of validation,” said Yami Gautam who was Zooni Haksar, the kickass intelligence officer of Article 370, the film that got the sensibilities and the numbers right this February.
“Article 370 was a film where you could feel the amalgamation of a strong story and sound filmmaking (which includes controlled costs). It gave the audience a unique cinematic experience, which is exactly what our job is as creators.
“Aditya (Dhar, her husband) and I really believe in the power of the right intent. The right intent to make a film that’s worth the audience’s money and time, something to remember by, something that you can call cinema, was one of the factors that went right with the film.”
The producer’s wife had a takeaway message.
“The maths has changed,” she analysed. “The financials of the industry are different from what they were in pre-Covid times. We stand at a point where there’s a crunch, it’s one of the most challenging times the industry is going through. But I also believe that with challenges come opportunities, we just have to knock on the right door. The audience is ready, the audience has never failed us. They’re just telling us that they want to watch something different. The challenge is for us to work really hard on our scripts, have the intent to create something good. Success will follow,” she added.
It definitely sums up the lessons that must be learnt from the first two quarters of 2024.
