Everyone seems to be going bonkers over the opening that Endhiran has got and rightly so. No other Tamil movie has created such a giant impact as this one. While it is indeed a proud feeling to know that our Superstar’s movie has outdone many of the Hindi blockbusters in terms of box office collections, both in India and overseas, there is also a feeling that we are perhaps losing sight of the more important thing for something that is peripheral. Simply put, the emphasis seems to be more on the numbers than the movie itself. There is talk of per screen averages, net collections, tax deductions, gross revenue and regional trends, but somewhere in the midst of all this, no one seems to be actually talking about how good the movie is! By no one, I mean the bulk of the media.
Is that really wrong, you might think? Going by the rules of cinema, only a good movie can translate into good collections and therefore if there is a lot of talk about fantastic box office performance, it is directly implied that the movie is a good one. Yes, generally, this does hold
true. But the recent years have seen a slight distortion of this rule. Box office collections, especially initials (the first three days to one week) may not be the best indicators of a film’s quality. The reason here once again being the role played by the media in hyping a film and thus boosting its chances at the box office. The louder one blows the trumpet, the more attention one gets – that is the simple logic that seems to be at work here. Huge publicity and widespread release of movies have ensured that the ‘trumpet’ is as aloud as it can get, not sparing anyone and thus holding everyone’s attention for a short but effective period of time, until someone louder comes along.
Remember those days, not too long back, when a film’s success was determined by how long it ran at the main centers, not how well it did during its first week at the box office. There used to be a waiting period of at least 50 days after a film’s release before it was confidently proclaimed a hit. Nowadays, films become hits even before they are released owing to tremendous pre-release hype and advanced bookings.
Is this good for cinema? Yes, in certain terms. There is confidence in producers and distributors about the ability of the market to return their investments in a very short period which encourages them to pump more money into cinema. It is this confidence and resulting investment that has catalyzed the exponential growth of Indian cinema (at least in terms of budgets) over the years. Plainly speaking, a movie like Endhiran was possible because of the extrapolation of huge possibilities and guarantees that were offered by whirlwind marketing and global releases. Plainly speaking, if homework is done well, then one can ensure that profits start coming in even before ‘word of mouth’ starts getting around.
Of course, it goes without saying that Endhiran is an absolutely spectacular movie and it deserves every bit of success that it is getting. But, this is not just about Endhiran. The trend of marketing and strategizing upstaging the actual quality of a film in determining its success or otherwise is catching on. In simple words, even a mediocre film can be turned into a success. Is this good for cinema? Certainly not!
There are certain very good examples that can be cited to prove this. All of you will be aware of Dabbang and the huge success that it is reportedly having. It is being called the biggest opener in Hindi cinema’s history and is being touted as capable of dethroning Three Idiots from the position of biggest ever grosser. Yes, Dabbang is an enjoyable brand of pop corn entertainment which you can enjoy if you leave your brains behind at home, don’t bother about logic and love to see the hero play to the galleries. But, is this kind of cinema really worth taking the all time top spot in terms of gross collections? Is it worthy of replacing a witty and sensible film like Three Idiots? Three Idiots too was a commercial outing, with lots of colors and fun. But, it was by no means a no-brainer. In fact, it had some very serious messages to deliver, foremost of which was the standard and purpose of technical education in our country. Dabbang’s masala filled content, coupled with massive release strategies upstaged films like 3 Idiots and Raajneeti in terms of initials and if it does manage to overthrow the final gross figures, it will only be a victory of marketing and strategizing rather than content.
Smart promotion, huge releases and guaranteed returns are all fine for cinema. But, the ultimate factor in deciding a film’s victory at the box office should be its content more than anything else. These are days when all spheres of our life are overridden with hype; days when even a collapsed false ceiling is portrayed as national shame! It is difficult for cinema to play down hype and go for content and substance in such times. But, if marketing and strategizing keep growing in importance, there will soon come a time when the lines between great, good, average and mediocre cinema (in terms of content) will blur beyond recognition. There will be one thing that matters in cinema – SIZE! Going by current trends, Indian cinema is all set to get bigger; but does that essentially mean getting better? We have to remain alert.
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