The hundred crore clubs at box office: Does size matter?

In recent times, along with SRK seducing his fans to play the guessing game regarding his next film and new star-jodis hitting the screen, movies zooming past the Rs 200 crore mark, Akshay Kumar’s signing up his next film for a record-breaking Rs 150 crore pay check and Karan Johar allocating a cool Rs 250 crore budget for his new, proposed multi-starrer Takht have taken the media by storm. It appears that filthy lucre rules, mammon has dislodged the muse and the merchants have finally overtaken the magicians.

Once upon a time, life was different. Mainstream publications and TV channels did reviews. Hits were defined by silver, gold and diamond jubilees, with dazzling, glamorous parties marking the occasion, their reports splashed across film magazines. Details of daily/weekly/monthly collections were restricted strictly to the trade magazines.

In recent times however, this Rs 100 crore disease has spread like a fungus and today, in a crass, blatant and brazen manner, first day/ weekend/weekly collections — real or fictional — are blitzed across mainstream and film publications with depressing regularity. Has the fun and enjoyment of going to the movies turned to share-market-watch? Is popularity and success the same as excellene? Is Sanjay Leela Bhansali a greater director than Satyajit Ray?

Many heavyweights of B-town share this concern. Director Rajkumar Hirani (Munnabhai and 3 Idiots) is extremely uncomfortable with this fact and articulates it in no uncertain times. He suspects it is a chilling sign of a consumerist and market obsessed time when people are encouraged to know the price of everything and the value of nothing. “For God’s sake, it’s not an IPO but a film. Sure I understand concerns about the ROI factor, but for me audience appreciation is the key. People loving your film and recommending it to others remains a matchless high. For me, the shoestring-budgeted Jaane Bhi Do Yaro, made three decades ago, is way beyond any Rs 100 crore movie because even today it is remembered, loved and given cult status.”

Both Anurag Basu and Kabir Khan agree. Basu — after a big budget disaster, Kite — admitted he was apprehensive about the commercial viability of his movie, Barfi. “Transforming young, hot, popular, glam stars like Ranbir and Piryanka into sexless deaf-dumbartistic creatures could be risky. The content too was anti-glam. Would the audiences respond to the soul to the film? I guess I got lucky. If you go with your heart, chances are, it will find another.” Kabir agrees. “You can’t sit down with the selfcreated agenda of writing a Rs. 100/200/300 crore film. Stupid. You have to go with your sense of self-belief,” he says.

Film critic Mayank Shekhar comes in next with his take. He argues that with corporates entering the industry, profits and ROI have taken on a more realistic, vibrant and aggressive dimension. “Most of these companies are listed and therefore figures matter, because they impact the share market.”

He agrees that the earlier version of a leisurely process of selecting a movie to watch, the excitement and process attached while making the trip to the theater, the thrill of being lost in the dark for that time and the long, never-ending discussions about the movie — with not a syllable about its collections or financial potential —that invariably followed, are lost forever, in the consumerist and market-driven times we live in, but asks, “Isn’t everything today weighed in financial parameters? 100 crores means popular, which translates to success, which is the big driver to see the film. Footfalls have replaced heartbeats. Sign of the times. Sad but true.”

Eminent Film Analyst Komal Nahata brings his own spin, “I continue to be most amused by the mass-following and jabber of the Rs 100 crore club. Do even a fraction of the people who talk about it have a clue about the authenticity or dynamics that go behind the making — or projection — of this magical figure? Very unlikely. It’s now become fashionable to mention this across all media channels leading it to become a part of the Water-Cooler talk and common parlance. Hilarious.”

New York based, Bolly-fan doesn’t think it’s either weird or funny. Says the 30-year-old ad-executive, Pralhad Khanna, “We live in nanosecond times where capsules — not long speeches or romantic meanderings of the heart — are drivers of the purchase intent. In marketing, statistics work wonders because they define hard facts, persuading (at least) trial run. Why shouldn’t the same apply to movies? If a movie, in these fiercely competitive times, wants to stay ahead, then advertising their collection is a great way to invite footfalls. Also, it’s a super buzz- vehicle, creating curiosity and generating excitement. I think it’s cool and takes away nothing from the film-viewing experience. It’s the sizzle, not the steak, for chrissake. Get a life.”

Music director Abhisekh Ray (Paan Singh Tomar, I am Kalaam, Sahib Bibi aur Gangster) however isn’t too pleased about the signals that this figure sends out. He says: “I find it totally misleading in terms of value judgement because popularity should never be confused with excellence. There are scores of artistes who have not attained the kind of commercial status some others have. Should they be dismissed, ignored or neglected? Besides, movies today being an expensive proposition, not all films [despite brilliant content] can afford big promotional budgets. Lastly, there is a huge chasm between collections made on day 1, weekend or weekly compared to revenue spend making the film. What’s so great about 30 crore weekend if the overall budget was 80 crore?”

So at the end of the day, vulgar and crass as it maybe, this in-your-face phenomenon is here to stay. Why? Simply because money talks, market rules and sensex is king for today’s what’s-in-it-for-me generation.