4 out of 210 Bollywood films are big hits at single-screen halls

4 out of 210 Bollywood films are big hits at single-screen halls

 

Whoever said Bollywood cinema caters to the lowest common denominator should really think again. Two hundred and ten odd films have released in 2008 so far and only 4 out of these have passed muster at the single screens across India. India has around 650 multiplex screens; and around 11,000 single screens.And 70 per cent of India sees movies at single screens. It's raining a myriad of subjects at the multiplexes currently; but what appeals to a multiplex audience has failed to entice the single screen audience.

Whether it is Tarun Mansukhani's Dostana, a funky film with an undertone of homosexuality; Madhur Bhandarkar's Fashion, that is also "homo-phobic' ' and deals with the concept of live-in-relationships ; Onir's Sorry Bhai which focuses around the living-in bit, life at the movies is no longer staid.

This significant change in the Indian mindset is being mirrored in the fact that Fashion and Dostana have been lapped up in the metros; and something like Sorry Bhai was keenly discussed in Mumbai and Delhi.

But trade analyst Amod Mehra feels 2008 may have been a good year for multiplex ventures - with several films like A Wednesday and Welcome to Sajjanpur being accepted by a niche audience - but that audience makes up a mere 30 per cent of the Indian cinema-viewing population; the remaining 70 per cent has completely rejected these films.

Out of the 210 films released in the year so far, only four (Singh is Kingg, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, Golmaal Returns and Jannat ) have found takers at both single screens and multiplexes. And these are the films that are the highest revenue-generators . Mehra says: "Dostana and Fashion have had zero appeal at the single screens.''

According to the Film Street Journal, the all-India business of Dostana till the second week was an estimated Rs 18 crore; and Fashion, which released earlier , earned around Rs 20 crore from its business in the big cities. But these films are still "lukewarm' ' earners when compared to movies like Singh is Kingg or Golmaal Returns that have traditional Hindi film comedy plots and have earned huge revenue from the single screens in rural centres . Film-maker Mahesh Bhatt says today's film-makers are mainly targeting a multiplex audience. But he warns: "They are making a mistake by alienating the rest of India.''

Bhatt feels that film-makers , who leave the palette of the single-screen audience outside their gaze, have a flawed view of what appeals to real India. "These guys are overlooking the aspirations of the real nation ; and, if their films don't have a pan-India appeal, then they're incomplete filmmakers ,'' Bhatt said. Films, according to him, must talk the language of the common man and only then will it translate into big success.

But Cinemax vice-president (marketing) Devang Sampat feels more filmmakers are targeting a multiplex audience because of two reasons. One it gives a film-maker a chance to experiment with novel ideas and subjects; and, two, the whole exercise of bringing a city audience back to the theatres has been revived with the multiplex movement. But trade insiders insist that contemporary subjectslike homosexuality and living in may make a metro audience happy but these are unsuccessful in the heartland /hinterland of India. "The single-screen audience still prefers masala fare with a typical plot,'' a trade pundit said. "For them, a Dostana and a Fashion are lost in translation,'' Mehra added.

via:mumbaimirror